Mil Lel dug deep to overcome a spirited South Gambier in a hard-fought Barber Shield contest in the special Mental Health round at Frew Park on Saturday.
With the Demons armed with match practice from the previous round – a luxury Mil Lel missed out on – Cam Jorgensen asked the hosts to have first use on the wicket and the call paid dividends early.
Destructive opener Will Rowland was dismissed in the second over of play, while the captain left Mil Lel gasping for air picking up two wickets in as many balls.
The host’s response was a conservative, but calculated one as the experienced Craig Lock and Josh Smith soldiered through 14 overs without a boundary to recover the innings.
Lock eventually could not resist the relentless pressure of Stephan Easterbrook, who went on to concede just eight runs from as many overs.
But with youngster Darcy Williamson digging in alongside him, Smith was the backbone of the innings until Jakob Opie ended his 33-run knock.
Despite his hard work, the breakthrough gave the Demons an avenue back into the game and they pounced.
Jorgensen and Opie ran riot as Mil Lel slipped from 4/83 to 115 all out in the space of 12 overs.
With only 115 to defend, the pressure was on Mil Lel’s bowlers and they delivered.
Logan Gibbs started the innings with a maiden and then went one step further making a mess of Ryan Kuhl’s stumps.
Despite the early loss, Robert Drenthen smashed 32 runs including 18 off one Gibbs over.
He gave the Demons a rocket start to their run chase and put mountains of pressure on Miller’s shoulders with only 50 runs left to defend.
Nick Walters was one bowler South struggled to smash and he took a couple of quick wickets to stop the bleeding.
This allowed his captain to also go on the attack and he stopped Drenthen’s assault before picking up two more wickets, plus producing a run out.
The run out of Jed Sims summed up the game situation as South started to panic, losing 6/33.
Determined not to throw away the run chase, Jorgensen and Michael Sims stood firm to defy the hosts for 10 overs.
The pair brought the Demons to within touching distance, but Miller had one more ace up his sleeve.
He chucked the ball to Gibbs and he swung the game around dismissing Jorgensen for 12 before polishing off the game with a double-wicket maiden to end Mil Lel’s nerves and win the tense encounter by 15 runs.
Miller said it was not a smooth afternoon defending a small total, but credited his team’s fighting qualities.
“We knew defending 115 was not ideal with some heart-in-the-throat kind of stuff,” he said.
“I said to the boys we had to fight to the end which is what we did.
“Mitch Little bowled super tight not conceding any boundaries and then Logan ripped through them, so it was all about pressure.”
