The first two-day contest of the Hoggies Wines Barber Shield was all about special individual performances and a couple of milestone men helped Mil Lel end a 708-day drought.
For the first time since December 2019, Mil Lel won a two-day game after a Logan Gibbs six-wicket bag tore through the previously undefeated East Gambier at Frew Park.
With the ladder-leading Bulldogs coming up against the only team yet to win a game in 2021-22, Jack Miller’s men entered the contest as clear outsiders. However, their journey to a joyful upset began last weekend when Josh Smith lit up Frew Park with an even hundred to power the home side to 234.
It was always going to be a tough target to chase, but the form guide suggested the Bulldogs were in the game.
But Mil Lel was on the money with the new ball and East openers Connor Little and Leigh Von Duve could only manufacture five scoring shots from the first 56 deliveries.
The pressure proved too much for both openers who fell in back-to-back Gibbs overs.
The Bulldogs could not break free from the home side’s relentless areas with Nick Walters providing the perfect support act for Gibbs.
After a fine opening spell, Miller brought himself on and picked up from where Walters left off, tying the batters down and landing the knockout blow. Across 40 balls, Gibbs and Miller removed East’s big top order bats Emerson Marks, Steve Cameron and Dion Stratford while only conceding a single run.
At 5/30 from 28.5 overs the Bulldogs’ claws were sliding off the cliff and someone had to find a way to cope with Gibbs’ swing.
Number three Jimmy Sullivan was fighting hard at the other end and managed to bunt a couple of boundaries to stop the carnage.
He dominated a 21-run stand with Alex Hentschke until a run of 16 straight balls with no score off the bat led to the demise of the captain.
Gibbs had the Kookaburra on a string and just as his captain predicted, he found the outside edge of Sullivan’s bat to spark wild celebrations of his maiden A Grade five-wicket haul.
Sullivan’s departure after 14 hard-fought runs brought Travis Younghusband to the crease, who took out his frustration on the bowling to give East’s score some respectability.
Younghusband initially saw out the tough early period before feasting on the likes of Carey Megaw and Henry Smith to stand head and shoulders above the rest with 78.
Ben Hentschke showed some support before he and Megaw were involved in some byplay, while the equal second-highest score was the extras column.
Gibbs’ 22-14-6-27 skittled East for 148, 86 short of the target and Mil Lel’s fine day was completed by Will Rowland hammering a quick-fire 50 before stumps, while centurion Smith crashed back down to Earth with a golden duck.
Miller was a happy man after the breakthrough triumph and could not believe Gibbs’ James Anderson-like performance.
“It was an unreal feeling and we just tried to ride the high from the T20 win earlier in the week,” he said.
“Logan just had a day out, he had the ball on a penny, swinging it a mile and I have not seen that many play and misses for a long time.”
