Last summer East Gambier was in pursuit of a small double-figure total in a Hoggies Wines Barber Shield semi-final.

Backed by a home crowd, number 10 Liam Turley thought he was going to defy the odds and push the Bulldogs home, only to fall 11 runs short of Penola’s target of 96.

But fast forward 12 months later, Turley was the one celebrating in a sea of joy with his teammates after he finally guided East home in an equally chilling semi-final against West Gambier at Malseed Park on Sunday.

What was supposed to be a two-day clash turned into a one-day, 100 over affair after heavy rain washed away any hope of play on Saturday.

But it was probably for the best as players were still coming to grips with the shocking passing of the king of spin and Australian icon, Shane Warne.

With the sun out and covers off, everything was ready one hour earlier than usual on Sunday and Bulldogs’ captain Alex Hentschke won a crucial toss.

Hentschke’s decision to bowl at the toss allowed Turley and himself to steam in off the long run with a shiny new ball on a damp pitch.

The duo was on the money straight away and started the day with 11 straight dots which led to Turley castling Jack Geddes for a duck.

The tricky start set the tone of the day as bat struggled against ball.

Justin DeJong created the rare sight of hitting it off the square before becoming Hentschke’s first victim, while Alex Hill walked off with a duck after 27 painful balls at the crease.

The result of the chaos meant the scoreboard read 3/5 off 10 overs – a very rare sight in any game, let alone a limited overs fixture.

Experienced pair Jake Blackwell and Sam Willis addressed the situation and dug deep to rescue the innings.

Despite Willis scoring the first boundary of the day on the 95th ball, both sides engaged in some trench-style warfare being unwilling to give an inch with the tight bowling being met with stonewall defence.

Something had to give and it was Willis, who could not keep out a Kev Thomson off-break.

At 4/18 the Roos needed a kick and Blackwell gave his teammates something to work with.

After removing some pressure and finally getting the scoreboard moving alongside Bray Stephenson, Blackwell entered drinks in a confident frame of mind having nudged his way to 20 and more importantly pushed the total to the brink of 50.

But the southpaw did not last a single delivery after the break following a sharp, diving catch from wicketkeeper Dion Stratford.

Blackwell’s downfall was created by Hentschke, who reintroduced himself into the attack and the move brought more success when he also drew a false shot from his opposite number Richard Crute.

West struggled to find a response from the double strike, slumping to 9/62 as the frugal Thomson spun a web at the other end.

Thanks to the support of Oliver Miles, Sam Coxon’s lusty blows gave the Roos a glimmer of momentum.

The big-swinging Coxon eventually banged his way to a game-high score of 21 before chipping a chance straight back to Thomson to complete the off-spinner’s five-wicket haul.

With only 76 to chase, East entered its innings with confidence, but some nerves may have surfaced after Leigh von Duve’s wild swing at the first ball found nothing but air.

These feelings only heightened when Crute knocked over both Bulldogs’ openers for low scores.

However, these strikes did introduce the king of Malseed Park Stratford to the crease and the stage was set for him to seal another tight run chase at the venue for the second time in eight days.

But this time his perfect run of 50-plus scores at the ground dating back to 2017/18 came to a crashing end when Miles snaffled a sharp catch at square leg.

At the other end Steven Cameron was quietly making a case for a match-winning knock until Stephenson silenced him on 16.

With the score at 4/33, West was in the game, but the side also thought this in the final round when Hentschke arrived at the middle.

For the second weekend in a row, the East captain appeared to steer the ship to safety from troubled waters with Emerson Marks by his side this time.

Hentschke (19) and Marks (12) put the Bulldogs on the brink, but Roos’ leader Crute was unwilling to give up.

The skipper knocked over his opposite number one ball after being hit for six and found the edge of Marks in the same over before sending two ducks to waddle back to the pavilion.

Suddenly the Bulldogs had lost 5/6 across 36 sensational balls and with six runs still to win and only one wicket in hand, the location of the Grand Final ticket was anyone’s guess.

Despite carrying many scars from previous unsuccessful chases, Turley managed to resist West’s strike weapons alongside Nathan Gore.

After surviving two nail-biting overs, Turley broke free from the chasing demons of the past by flicking the ball in front of square on the leg side and sealing an emotional one-wicket victory to bring East back to the Barber Shield final.