By Lachlan Onions
EAST GAMBIER 10/113 d WEST GAMBIER 10/97
EAST Gambier ended its 15-year wait for a Barber Shield cricket premiership on Sunday when the Bulldogs held on to claim a 16-run win over West Gambier at Frew Park.
East captain Alex Hentschke spoke to The Border Watch after the game and shared his delight to finally claim an A Grade title.
“We have been around the mark the last few years and its a phenomenal effort to finally get one,” he said.
“I’m still a bit overwhelmed.”
Hentschke said the previous years of heartache, where the Bulldogs had fallen short at the final hurdle, spurred his side on for this year.
Action began on Saturday and East won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch which was asking plenty of questions for batsmen.
West started strongly and had the Bulldogs on the ropes at 3/21 at the first drinks break.
Shortly after, James Sullivan and Alex Hentschke departed to make it 5/28 and East was in dire straits.
However, Ben Robinson stepped up and put in a man-of-the-match performance to battle on and claim the inaugural Gavin Hogg medal for best player in the grand final.
Robinson scored an unbeaten 45 off 110 balls to guide his team to 113 before they were bowled out just before stumps on Day 1.
Hentschke was full of praise for Robinson after his match-defining innings.
“His confidence to come in on a deck that was doing a bit and was hard to bat for everyone else was huge and it turned the game on its head,” he said.
“When you get to a grand final, 113 has been defended more often than not when you bat first.
“It’s a funny game when you get runs on the board and his effort was massive.”
After West claimed all 10 of East’s wickets, the minor premiers went out to bat for two overs in a nervy period before stumps.
Liam Turley claimed the priceless scalp of Nuwan Gunawardana in the final over of the day to give the Bulldogs confidence heading into Day 2.
“Nuwan (Gunawardana) has scored 40 against us both times we’ve played him,” Hentschke said.
“He comes out and tries to put the pressure back on you and with a low total, it would have been unreal if he could get away with it.
“Luckily, we got the nick, got the wicket and coming in at 1/2 overnight, it was a massive confidence thing for us to come in and feel like we were well and truly in the game.
“Early wickets are massive with a low total and to have one overnight was huge.”
Turley and Hentschke continued to put the pressure on in the early stages on Sunday and held the upper hand with the score at 3/15.
However, Jake Blackwell and Justin de Jong fought back to give the Roos some hope.
As their partnership started to frustrate the East bowlers, Ben Hentschke stepped up to change the complexion of the game and claimed the “massive” wicket of Blackwell.
“Blackwell has been the premier batter in the league for the last few years,” Alex Hentschke said.
“For Ben to come in and break that and go bang, bang, to get both of them was just a little momentum swing for us.
“I think he took another one two or three overs later and you have three in that little space with no runs and its a huge momentum swing for us.”
West was on the brink of defeat at 6/43 but Sam Willis and Jack Geddes combined for a 29-run stand to give the Roos a glimmer of hope before Alex Hentschke stepped up yet again.
He bowled Willis for 22 to make it 7-72 before he cleaned up the tail alongside Marc Roberts to see West fall 16 runs short of East’s total.
Alex Hentschke was the pick of the bowlers with 3/19 off 23.2 overs.
He was full of praise for everyone in his side who all stepped up at various points in the season.
“Dion (Stratford) won the batting award, he’s always been our top batter, he’s looked really good this season,” he said.
“Emerson Marks didn’t actually play finals because he broke his foot.
“He was huge, he was second in our batting and second in our bowling this year, he really stepped up and had a breakout year.”
He also praised Turley and Roberts, who had been major contributors with the ball throughout the season, while noting Alex Hill’s performance in his first season at the club.
Kerr and Ben Hentschke were also commended for their efforts in the back end of the season.
Alex Hentschke said he now hoped this premiership would spur the Bulldogs on and set them up for future success.
“We will look to pick up a couple in the off-season as we always do and hopefully we can build from here now we have that taste of success,” he said.
“You look at the better clubs the last few years with Penola, North and South, you win one and get two or three once you break that drought.
“Success breeds success.”
