COLTS cricket club secured the B Grade title in a climatic finish to the Horsham Cricket Association season on Sunday.
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The side successfully defended its first innings total of 198 with 18 runs to spare in what was the final match in the association to be decided.
With the A Grade match between the Homers and Rup-Minyip over early in the day attention shifted to the B Grade grand final at Dudley Cornell.
The match did not disappoint the gathered crowd as it went right down to the wire.
The Saints finished day one by batting out two scoreless overs, meaning it had a full 80 overs to chase down the target on the second day.
For much of the day it looked like the side would do just that.
The early loss of opener Ben Tait to the bowling of Liam Jakobi was seemingly only a minor setback as Gary Davidson replaced him at the crease.
Davidson would stay for a long vigil that would be the backbone of the Saints run-chase but Damien Bryan retired hurt at the first drinks break after being struck on the hand.
Mark Crafter joined Davidson in the middle and the pair moved the score along at a good rate.
The Colts bowling attack struggled to find answers until Crafter, 34, lapped Ross Frew around the corner into the waiting hands of Josh Colbert at short fine leg.
Despite the loss the Saints continued to hold the ascendancy while captain Brad Sproule was at the crease.
The Saints score moved briskly from 2-86 to 115 when Sproule was caught in the deep off the bowling of Brad Millar.
The Colts side and its supporters sensed the side had started to work its way back into the game at this point with many key wickets back in the shed.
When Mark O’Beirne went down with a hamstring injury while running and was subsequently forced to retire the pendulum continued to swing.
The quick wickets of Haydn Smith, Trent King and Ayden Roberts meant O’Beirne made his way back to the middle with assistance from a runner.
The ever vigilant Davidson and O’Beirne put on a 20-partnership to lift the side from 6-157 to within 22 runs of victory.
A desperate lunge by Crafter acting as O’Beirne’s runner broke the partnership prompting more celebrations by the Colts side.
Colts took another huge step towards a win when Davidson, 71, holed out to Frew off the bowling of Dylan Arnott, 3-35, with the Saints score stuck on 177.
Jackson Davidson was run-out after backing up to far for the ninth wicket and Bryan’s return to the crease did not last long.
Jakobi made a mess of his stumps to spark the start of the Colts celebrations deep into the day’s play.
