By Lachlan Onions
EAST GAMBIER 6/86 d SOUTH GAMBIER 10/84
A RUTHLESS performance from the East Gambier fast-bowling cartel led the Bulldogs to a comfortable victory in Round 6 of the Barber Shield on Saturday.
South Gambier won the toss and elected to bat at the Blue Lake Sports Park but East’s bowlers were lethal with the new ball and soon claimed the scalp of the dangerous Robbie Drenthen.
Drenthen was bowled by express paceman Alex Hentschke in the third over of the game after adding just four runs to his side’s total.
This brought David Somerfield to the crease and he found himself in an entertaining contest with Hentschke from the outset.
Midway through the third over Somerfield hit Hentschke for four.
He then punished Hentschke on the second ball of the fifth over when he sent the ball over the rope for six.
However, the East Gambier captain responded immediately and dismissed Somerfield LBW the following ball to make it 2/19.
In a fiery opening spell, Hentschke continued to be a menace with the new ball and claimed his third wicket of the game two overs later to make it 3/25.
Liam Turley found himself amongst the wickets when he dismissed Stephen Easterbrook for one to make it 4/32.
The pressure was on for the Demons and opener Ryan Kuhl put up a solid fight but he continued to lose batting partners at the other end.
Marc Roberts and Turley cleaned up the middle order and the latter eventually claimed the prized wicket of Kuhl, who was dismissed for 26 runs off 82 balls.
After Kuhl departed at 8/80, it did not take long for Hentschke and Turley to clean up the tail and bring the innings to a close.
Hentschke was the pick of the bowlers with 4/23 off 7.2 overs, while Turley took 3/30 and Roberts picked up two of his own.
The Bulldogs were positive in response with the bat and soon faced a race against time as the clouds began to lurk in the region.
Jakob Opie claimed the first wicket when he dismissed Travis Younghusband to make it 1/22.
However, Alex Hill and James Sullivan dug deep and withstood the movement from the new ball.
The pair combined for 36 runs before Hill was dismissed by Camron Jorgensen for 16 runs.
This sparked a top-order collapse and South fought back to give itself a slim chance of claiming a result.
Sullivan was then caught off Elwood Geary’s bowling in the next over before Jorgensen struck again seven balls later to claim the vital scalp of Dion Stratford.
After taking three wickets for four runs, there was a faint glimmer of hope for the home side.
However, it was all in vain as the Bulldogs eventually reached the total to claim a four-wicket win.
Younghusband and Hill were the two best batters with 16 runs each, while Jorgensen was the best with the ball in the second innings with 3/19 off eight overs.
