By Lachlan Onions
EAST GAMBIER 10/194 d NORTH SPORTSMAN’S 10/98 and 3/10
EAST Gambier asserted its authority on Saturday with a commanding victory over North Sportsman’s in Round 10 of the Barber Shield.
The Bulldogs resumed play trailing by 60 runs with nine wickets in hand on Day 2 of the clash at Marist Park.
Isaac Mulraney struck early in the day to give his side a glimmer of hope as he made it 2/41.
However, James Sullivan and Ben Hentschke formed a crucial 48-run partnership to all but end the Tigers’ hopes of claiming an unlikely victory.
After facing 131 balls, Nick McInerney eventually dismissed Sullivan for 48 runs shortly after Mitchell Lewis sent Ben Hentschke back to the sheds.
However, it was all in vain for the hosts as Alex Hentschke and Emerson Marks added the final six runs needed to surpass the first innings total.
Marks led the way with the bat and scored 64 runs before he was dismissed by Mulraney.
After Marks was dismissed, the tail fell soon after and the East’s first innings came to an end after they added 194 runs to the board and held a 96-run lead in the contest.
Mulraney was the best performer with the ball for the hosts as he ended the innings with 4/40 off 17.4 overs, while McInerney and Matthew Robinson both took two wickets each.
The Tigers then went out to bat for seven overs and the Bulldogs’ momentum continued with the ball.
Luke Richards, Nicolas Brown and Thomas Cull were all dismissed cheaply and the contest ended with the home side at 3/10.
It was a dominant round for Marks as he claimed six wickets in the first innings and scored a half-century in the second and was far and away the best performer across both days.
East Gambier is now less than one point behind West Gambier at the top of the ladder with one round to play, while North Sportsman’s will need to claim a dominant victory over Penola next week and hope East claims a one-sided win over South to have a chance of making finals.
