South Gambier celebrated victory for the first time in 99 days in the Hoggies Wines Barber Shield, but was forced to fight just to hold onto it during a crazy day of cricket at Scott Park.
When the Bulldogs progressed to 4/61 in pursuit of the Demons’ 100, only one result appeared possible and that was victory to the home side.
But no one told this to Robert Drenthen, who had bowled all innings and took 4/0 from his final eight overs to flip the game upside down.
It was another instance of East crumbling under the pressure of chasing a low score as it lost its last six wickets for 17 runs.
Suddenly the pressure was on number 10 Ben Robinson, who may boast a high score of 155 in the B Grade, but had to find a way to manufacture 22 runs alongside tail-ender Matt Bennent.
Eventually Robinson chipped a Dan Loupos off spinner into the path of the bowler, who pouched it with glee to generate the winning feeling South has been starved of.
Victorious captain Cam Jorgensen said he was overjoyed when Loupos completed the caught and bowled chance.
“We thought it was going to be real tough, especially early when East only needed 56 runs to win,” he said.
“But Jakob (Opie) and Robbie bowled out of their skins keeping things tight, while the fielders were exceptional.
“I do not think we have fielded any better this season than on Saturday, so it is a massive confidence booster for everyone.”
A South win looked almost impossible in the opening hour as stand-in Bulldogs skipper Ben Hentschke (18) and Emerson Marks (15) batted with authority to close within 39 runs.
Even when Opie broke the stand by knocking over Hentschke, there was no cause for alarm in the East dressing room with names such as Dion Stratford, Steven Cameron and Travis Younghusband still to come.
But all three fell for ducks as Drenthen ran rampant and Jorgensen said he could not take the ball out of his paceman’s hands as he did something extraordinary.
“Normally you only get one or two spells from Robbie, but I said ‘if you are happy to keep bowling, go for it’,” he said.
“Rob just looked like he was going to do it all for us and he did with the help of our fielders.”
With the Bulldogs skittled for 78 and first innings wrapped up, many would have expected the remainder of the day to drift towards stumps.
This became even more likely when South openers Loupos and Ryan Kuhl carved out 41 runs from the first 14 overs, but this was no ordinary game of cricket.
East’s spin to win tactic paid off as tweakers Hentschke, Kev Thomson and Marks tied the Demons in knots removing batters two to 11 for single-figure scores, which placed all the pressure on Loupos’ shoulders.
By the time he was caught and bowled by Thomson for a vital 70 off 88 balls, he had scored 81% of the team’s runs.
But thanks to Marks’ 5/17, South was skittled for 106 which left East the improbable prospect of scoring 123 runs from just 10 overs to steal an outright win from the jaws of defeat.
Amazingly, the Bulldogs were inspired by the England women’s team, put the foot down and took an all guns blazing approach to the chase.
After making a 37-ball duck in the first dig, Stratford showed his versatility by striking 43 runs off 25, while Leigh Von Duve launched Drenthen for three maximums.
With the scoreboard reading 1/69 after seven overs, a miraculous run chase was on.
But Jorgensen brought on his spinners at the death and they halted the charge and prevented the Bulldogs’ heist.
The South captain said he was a relieved figure when stumps was called.
“The plan was to bat out the day, but Dan was the only one who looked settled out there,” Jorgensen said.
“East’s spinners rushed us on the turning pitch. Things were suddenly very nerve-racking when Jakob got hit for 19 off an over, so I changed things up thankfully.”
