Barwon Heads won a thrilling Bellarine Peninsula Cricket Association A2 Grade round 11 game against Armstrong Creek on Saturday and grabbed second spot on the ladder in the process.
Both went into the game on 45 points, but Armstrong Creek has a far superior percentage.
The Seagulls batted first and were in massive trouble at 8-84 despite Max Melzer (25 off 38 deliveries) and Tony Mirabella (24 off 37) getting starts.
Jason Robertson was proving difficult to get away with his eight overs costing only nine runs while first-change Daniel MacLean grabbed for wickets and young leggie Grace Jones picked up two.
Nick Sutton joined Josh High (14 off 32) at the crease and the pair immediately went about resurrecting the innings with a 36-run stand.
Sutton and Luke Schilling then put on 20 for the last wicket, which would ultimately be the difference between the two sides.
Sutton made an important 37 off just 38 balls and the Heads were able to get to 145 all out.
The Titans weren’t able to get significant partnerships going and Cam Chisholm played a watchful innings of 23 from 72 balls.
Aaron Morgan and Ben Fary added 29 for the seventh wicket to have Armstrong Creek back in the contest.
With one over remaining and one wicket in hand, the Titans needed eight to win the game, but fell short, being all out for 139.
Schilling, High and promising leggie Harry Hyland finished with two wickets each for the Gulls.
If these two sides meet each other in the finals, it promises to be a huge clash. Both sides would have taken something from the game.
Drysdale kept hold of top spot on the ladder with a crushing win against Wallington.
The Hawks made 5-210 batting first with Jason Malcolm’s 89 from 116 deliveries and Nick Hallam’s 70 from 82 the reasons why, however they weren’t the highlight from the innings.
Wallington’s Matt Jeffreys grabbed a hat-trick to dismiss Hallam and then Ben Spencer and Shane Cutajar for first-ball ducks.
Wallington never looked like getting close to the target as Spencer atoned with a superb spell, taking 5-14 to have the Wallabies all out for 76.
Winchelsea returned to the top four with a big win against Newcomb, but at one stage things looked dire.
Winch was 8-83 as Nick Clowes tore through the middle order, taking 3-17.
An unbeaten 39-run ninth-wicket stand between Sam Penfold (28 not out off 21 balls) and Matt Partridge (11 not out) got the Blues to 8-122,
Sensing victory, the Winchelsea attack went for the kill with Partridge taking 3-11 to have the Bulls all out for 59.
Portarlington threw away the chance to consolidate fourth spot with a loss to Little River.
Port is now in fifth spot while the Redbacks are only two games outside the four and are making life tough for the teams above them.
Port made 118 all out with Paul Wells getting 29, but it could have been a lot worse.
The last two wickets added 32 precious runs.
The Redbacks got off to a great start with Chris Collins (29) and David Robson (30) putting on 56 for the opening stand, but Wells decided to haul Port back into the contest with three quick wickets.
All of a sudden Little River was 6-89, but Mitch Cunningham belted the attack for a match-winning 32 not out off only 25 balls to get his side home with 22 deliveries to spare.
