By Lachlan Onions
SOUTH GAMBIER 4/137 d EAST GAMBIER 8/126
SOUTH Gambier’s T20 Big Bash dominance continued on Friday as it claimed yet another premiership with an 11-run win over East Gambier at Frew Park.
Demons captain Robbie Drenthen spoke to The Border Watch after the game and said he was relieved to claim victory in a clash which went down to the wire.
“It is a good reward for the boys,” he said.
“We have been fighting hard from behind the eight-ball this year.”
South Gambier batted first and after a solid start from Drenthen and Adam Kuhl, Ben Hentschke and Liam Turley dismissed the opening pair to leave the Demons at 2/38 after 5.4 overs.
With the contest hanging in the balance, Dylan Clough and Stephen Easterbrook stood tall and formed a vital 83-run third wicket partnership to swing momentum back in their team’s favour.
“Cloughy and Stephen would be two of our best batters by a long way,” Drenthen said.
“Cloughy has played a fair few T20 finals now and we have been in that position before, so he knew what was required.
“It was a crucial partnership, they did what they needed to do, which was a run a ball for 70-odd so I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
After a scintillating display which saw Easterbrook pull all of his tricks out of the locker, he was dismissed for 42 after scoring four 4’s and two 6’s.
Emerson Marks picked up a couple of late wickets for East Gambier, while Clough ended the innings not out on 40.
South was in a strong position at the innings break after it posted a solid total of 4/137 but the contest was far from over with the power East had at its disposal.
Young speedster Elwood Geary spearheaded the Demons bowling attack to begin the second innings and had an immediate impact as Zach Jones was caught at deep fine-leg by Camron Jorgensen for a duck in the first over.
Geary struck again in the third over as Jorgensen took a remarkable diving catch in the deep to dismiss Marks for three runs.
Pressure began to mount on the Bulldogs as they found themselves at 2/10 after five overs thanks to a maiden from Jakob Opie.
Drenthen then brought himself into the attack for the first time in the sixth over and had an immediate impact.
With his first ball of the game, Drenthen bowled Leigh Von Duve for four runs.
Then three balls later, Jake Wight was bowled for just one run after he chopped a ball onto his stumps.
At 4/12, Alex Hill made his way out to the middle to face the music but failed to survive the over as he was dismissed LBW for a second-ball duck to end a ripping over from the Demons captain.
However, despite the Bulldogs struggling at 5/12, the contest was far from over with Alex and Ben Hentschke at the crease.
The pair survived the early onslaught and made it to 5/37 at the midway point in the innings.
East needed 10 runs per over for the rest of the game and the duo began to unleash and made the most of missed opportunities in the field from South.
After a 66-run stand, Geary eventually brought the partnership to an end as he dismissed Alex Hentschke for 31 runs.
“Credit to the two Hentschke boys, they capitalised on some chances,” Drenthen said.
“Alex was dropped a couple of times but credit to him, he just kept on scoring.
“Ben hits a really crisp ball, so we always knew the game wasn’t over until we got through that partnership.
“It was a great catch from Opie … for him to hold it, it probably turned the game.”
With the Demons bowlers into the tail-enders, the onus was on Ben Hentschke to pull off the miracle run-chase with 60 runs needed off the final five overs.
Despite his best efforts, he eventually became the fourth batter to succumb to Drenthen’s bowling and was dismissed for 52 runs.
At 7/113 with just seven balls left, the game was all but over for East Gambier with the Bulldogs needing nothing short of a miracle to reach their target.
Late cameos from Connor Little and James Sullivan meant the Bulldogs added another 12 runs to the total in the final over to suffer an 11-run defeat and hand South the premiership.
Drenthen’s four wickets with the ball and quick-fire 18 runs with the bat saw him named player of the grand final in a memorable captain’s performance.
He said his side would celebrate the victory but his team remains heavily focussed on the task at hand in the Barber Shield.
“We know that we have a job to do, we got to try and get into finals first,” he said.
“We know that we can really push this year and we are really confident.”
