By Lachlan Onions
WEST GAMBIER 10/226 d PENOLA 10/109
WEST Gambier booked its spot in the Barber Shield grand final with an emphatic victory over Penola at Malseed Park over the weekend.
The hosts batted first and the contest could not have started worse for the home side as Penola quick Michael Waters dismissed Trent Badman for a duck in the first over.
However, after a streaky start, which included several edged and missed shots, Nuwan Gunawardana fought back to swing momentum back into the Roos’ favour.
Gunawardana formed a 64-run stand with Jake Blackwell before the former was dismissed for 40 by Josh Doyle.
Penola then looked to be back in the contest when Justin de Jong departed for a duck to make it 3/67.
However, Bray Stephenson halted any momentum from the moment he came to the crease as he added 42 runs and combined for a 73-run stand before Lachy Jones claimed his first wicket of the day.
After battling for 167 balls, Blackwell eventually succumbed to the bowling of Lewis March.
Blackwell top-scored for his side with 58 runs and held down the fought while others scored at a higher rate.
Sam Willis also scored a handy 50 off 81 balls to help West Gambier reach 226 before they were bowled out.
Jones was the best of the bowlers on Day 1 with figures of 3/64, while Waters, March and Jack Mullan all claimed two wickets each.
The Eagles then began their run-chase on Sunday with an imposing challenge ahead of them.
March struggled to find his feet against the opening bowlers and was dismissed for an 11-ball duck in the fourth over to make it 1/8.
Lachy Jones was next in but was sent back to the pavilion the exact same way as March – caught Badman, bowled Kyal Chapman.
Chapman was unstoppable early in the day and claimed his third scalp to make it 3/42 when Mullan was caught behind for 24 runs.
This brought Penola’s leading run-scorer and captain Drew Clayfield to the crease to try and dig into the 180-run deficit.
However, Clayfield was caught behind after adding just two runs and the match appeared to be getting away from the Eagles with the score at 4/50.
Chapman then continued his rampage through the Penola top-order when he sent Mark Smith back to the sheds for 21 runs.
Waters put up a fight in the middle-order as he scored 24 runs but was the first of four players to fall to Sam Willis as he tore through the tail to make it 9/102.
Stephenson then claimed his only wicket of the game when Eli Hunter edged a full ball through to Blackwell to seal a 117-run win.
Willis continued to show why he has been the in-form bowler in the league as he ended with figures of 4/14, while Chapman bowled 20 overs and ended with 4/33.
