The maiden Millicent and Naracoorte Cricket Association premiership was decided on a sombre, but celebratory Saturday afternoon where Rendelsham showed its class and proved why it was in a league of its own all summer after emerging on top in a nail-biting finish.
After heading into the decider on home turf the undisputed favourite, the expected premiership did not come easy as Rendelsham had to dodge numerous obstacles thrown its way by a fighting Millicent outfit.
The hype of grand final day was soaked in sadness when players woke up to the news of the tragic and shocking passing of one of their heroes Shane Keith Warne.
Having surfed a roller-coaster of emotions, players fronted up for the first ever Millicent and Naracoorte Cricket Association grand final.
Despite the early loss of Jacob Todd, Millicent gained the early initiative with the bat.
Captain Mitchell Nitschke and young gun Jaxon Cushion shown some composure to negotiate their way through the first nine overs and put the underdogs in the stable position of 1/31.
However, Nitschke threw away all his good work when he looked to take down the bowling of Tyson Smith, only to sky it into the safe hands of Max Telfer at mid-off.
But Smith was not done with yet as he turned his attention to the other set batter Cushion.
The bowler managed to deceive Cushion for a lack of pace four balls later, extracting a leading edge, which popped up straight into the hands of James Thorn at mid-wicket, who proceeded on a celebration reminiscent of Warne’s victory lap around the MCG after wicket number 700.
The double strike shook Millicent’s top order to its core and it struggled to land a blow for the remainder of the innings.
Cooper Hamilton showed a flash of promise with a quick-fire 11 until Dylan Clough ended his stay.
Hamilton turned out to be the last Millicent batter to reach double figures as wickets fell at regular intervals.
Pat Lawlor managed to hang around for 42 balls, but could only score eight runs with partners disappearing.
Clough and Carger both claimed two victims each, while Smith finished with three scalps.
But the main culprit was Telfer, who enjoyed the fine figures of 3/6 from just 2.5 overs.
Their hard work restricted Millicent to 74 from 30.5 overs, but runs on the board are always invaluable in finals and that proved to be the case.
Rendelsham’s loaded batting line up would have backed itself to eat the target in its sleep, but scoring just three runs from the first five overs was not part of the plan.
The tight bowling of Cushion and Todd meant opening batsmen Zach Jones and Sam Telfer fell in back-to-back overs.
Prolific run maker and Rendelsham captain Jake Wight looked to take matters into his own hands and was not afraid to pummel the boundary rope with Clough by his side.
But just when Wight started to look dangerous and push his team past the halfway mark, there was a twist in the tale.
Michael Gibson had been building up some big pressure with the ball and nailed his line to remove Wight and Carger in consecutive balls.
The double strike was enough to make Millicent dare to dream.
Gibson continued his run to trap Clough lbw for 13, while Todd picked up Ethan Bowman cheaply.
But Rendelsham had Smith up its sleeve and a couple of big blows to the boundary helped him compile 16.
Even when he fell to Alex Wesolowski for 16, his efforts pushed Rendelsham to the brink of glory.
Despite the tense drama of being seven wickets down, Ayden Reid and Max Telfer remained calm and nudged the ball into gaps to get the job done.
The three-wicket win means Rendelsham will forever be known as the first ever winners of the Millicent and Naracoorte Cricket Association.
