A bowl-off was needed to separate the two sides after both teams finished their innings on 77 runs.

The Tigers stepped up first (each team is given five attempts at unguarded stumps during a bowl-off) and Gavin Smart, Brad Hancock and Luke Condon all struck the target to leave Tuross Head with a difficult task.

And the pressure was too much for arguably the competition’s best bowling line-up as Tuross Head missed its first three attempts to lose the grand final in the most heartbreaking way. 

Tuross needed four runs to win during the final over and looked to have the match won when Les Roberts-Thompson lofted a fierce drive down the ground.

However, Paul Brown somehow prevented the boundary and on the very next ball, Anthony Love was trapped LBW by Gavin Smart to ensure the scores were all level. 

Tim Hartshorn was the pick of the Tuross Head batsmen with 15, while Brae Kelly and Nathan Carruthers (both 10) offered good support.

Brad Hancock and David O’Toole were the Bay’s best bowlers with two wickets each, and Hancock also pulled off a smart run-out to remove Matt Sethi. 

Gavin Smart won the toss and elected to bat on the turf wicket at Hanging Rock Oval. However, the Tigers got off to a rocky start as wickets fell with worrying regularity. 

Despite that, Brown (18) and Mick Smart (16) steadied the ship as the hosts and pre-match favourites went on to record 77.

Roberts-Thompson and Lewis McMahon impressed for Tuross Head with the ball in hand.

“It was a really good match, both teams performed really well and both sides deserved to win really,” Tuross Head’s Nick Mason said.

“But it just came down to what was a very different finish.

“Tim Hartshorn spoke to all the boys after the game and we’re really looking forward to getting back into the one-dayers. We just need all the guys at training and hopefully we can go on from here and have a good crack at the finals.”