By Trevor Jackson
West Gambier 9/183 d South Gambier 10/178
South Gambier fell agonisingly short of victory in round 3 of Barber Shield cricket on Saturday.
There was just five runs in the game when the final South wicket fell, with the Demons on the wrong side of the ledger on their home deck at Blue Lake Sports Park.
Much of that can be attributed to an impressive spell of bowling from Sam Willis, with five wickets just when the Roos needed them to halt the runaway South momentum.
West won the toss and elected to bat, with a handy opening stand ensuing.
Justin Dejong and Nuwan Gunawardana were well set in the middle when Elwood Geary had the former caught for four runs with the total at 26.
Gunawardana was in fine touch and pushed on with the help of Bray Stephenson and again the pair looked settled.
Both were finding the boundary, but with the total at 69, Gunawardana was clean bowled by Robert Drenthen for a steady 20 runs.
Sujith Nikethana came in and wasted no time, with the runs then flowing, but with the haste came the wicket and he was sent back to the sidelines, run out for 11 off just 13 balls.
Stephenson finally succumbed to the attack, but not before a timely half-century.
He was caught off the bowling of Adam Vause for 55, which included nine boundaries and on six.
By then the Roos has passed the century mark, but few more runs were added before Sam Willis was sent on his way for just two runs, with the total then at 5/125.
Jack Geddes and Sam Coxon pieced together a handy partnership, but after contributing 13 runs, the former fell victim to Drenthen, who again disturbed the woodwork.
Kyal Chapman then lit up the venue, with two sixes and a boundary on his wayt o 18 runs off just nine deliveries.
His innings was then cut short and few more runs came before the overs were completed.
However, with a total of 183, the Demons were always going to have a tough run chase.
Elwood Geary was best with the ball for South, with three scalps.
South’s run chase was off to a perfect start, with a century stand to kick proceedings off.
Drenthen eventually fell to Sam Willis, but not before contributing 53 runs off just 40 balls.
That included nine fours and a six, as he and Stephen Easterbrook took the bowling attack apart to chalk up an impressive 114-run opening stand.
With the Demons in the box seat, West needed to lift and Willis continued to provide hope.
He claimed the wicket of Jed Sims, clean bowled for a three-ball duck, had Jaggar Geary caught for one, then bowled Elwood Geary for another three-ball duck.
Suddenly South was on the back foot, with the total at 4/120.
Easterbrook was next to go, clean bowled by Willis for 42.
James Miller looked in good touch, with 11 runs off 13 balls, but Nikethana cut his innings short.
Likewise, Bryce Whicker looked set, with a steady 34-ball innings, which produced 12 runs.
Ryan Kuhl was finding runs, clocking up 13 until he was caught off the bowling of Stephenson.
When Jake Hollis was bowled by Stephenson South’s chances became quite slim, despite plenty of overs remaining.
However, with six more runs required for victory, Jakob Opie was run out and the Roos celebrated.
Willis was impressive with his five wickets, but more importantly, the timing of those scalps created a Demons collapse they could not recover from.
