It was going so well for Bective East ... until it wasn't.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Bulls were in total control for most of their two-day clash against South Tamworth at Riverside 1.
After Souths had slumped to 7-76 in their second innings on Saturday, a Bulls outright win had seemed certain.
Souths - who won the toss and batted - were still 10 runs behind the Bulls' first-innings total of 160.
But then South captain Chris Skilton - who had struggled for runs heading into the match - combined with another veteran, Tom Groth, for a 116-run eighth-wicket partnership that propelled the last-placed side to a total of 197.
Skilton and Groth made 82 and 48 respectively.
Set 112 for victory off at least 30 overs, the Bulls were travelling nicely - with opener Jye Paterson (25) and No 3 Lachie Barton (28) combining for a 47-run second-wicket partnership.
But when Paterson fell with the score on 54, the wickets tumbled regularly.
Skilton, fellow quick Daniel Lawrence and off-spinner Jelany Chilia tore through the Bulls' batting lineup - taking 4-29, 3-31 and 3-35 respectively.
Read also:
With time almost up, Bective East had reached 9-110.
No 10 Lachie Barton then hit Chilia down the ground, but opted for a single as his teammates screamed at him to come back for a match-winning second run.
The very next ball, Bulls No 11 Forbes Boydell skied Chilia's delivery and was caught by Luke Smith - resulting in a tie.
Paterson said Bective "let the game slip".
"It was our own fault ... We did it to ourselves," the skipper said.
"But it's good to get a few more points at the end of the game, anyway," he also said.
As the season draws to a close, third-placed Bective's points haul for the clash was at least 13 - including eight for the first-innings win.
We didn't deserve to be in the game.
- Chris Skilton
Skilton said Souths - who began their second innings at the start of play on Saturday after making 74 in the first dig - "didn't deserve to be in the game".
"We knew we had to score 200 runs [in the second innings]," he said, "and then put them in and see what we can do."
The Bulls' left-arm orthodox spinner Ben Taylor took an incredible 12-56 for the match - including 7-20 in the first innings - and was duly named man of the match.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark northerndailyleader.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News