That was the mindset of White Hills coach Rhys Irwin as he took strike for the final over of Wednesday night’s BDCA Twenty20 final against Bendigo United at the QEO.

With Irwin and Josh Julius at the crease, the Demons began the final over – to be bowled by Bendigo United’s Leigh McDermott – 6-100 chasing the Redbacks’ 8-108.

Irwin scored a pair of twos off the first two deliveries and a single off the third ball, before a single to Julius brought Irwin back on strike with two balls remaining and three needed to win.

Irwin made sure the game didn’t come down to the final ball by whacking McDermott’s fifth delivery through mid-off for four, and in doing so secured the Demons their first Twenty20 title as they capped an unbeaten 2017-18 campaign.

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“I just wanted to get bat on the ball in that last over… hit hard and run hard and put the pressure on the fielders,” Irwin said post-match.

As for his match-winning boundary: “I borrowed Stepo’s (Brayden Stepien) bat and it came out of the middle alright… I just closed my eyes and swung,” Irwin said.

Irwin was named man-of-the-match in the Demons’ win.

As well as his unbeaten 12 off six balls, Irwin produced the game’s best bowling figures of 4-22 off four overs to end the tournament with 10 wickets.

Wednesday night’s win was the Demons’ first top level piece of silverware since they won their last first XI flag in 1993.

“It’s obviously not the main trophy that we play for, but any success is great and when you get in tough moments like tonight and come through, hopefully, it will hold us in good stead in the future,” Irwin said.

The four-wicket defeat denied the Redbacks back-to-back Twenty20 titles.

Having won the toss, the Redbacks fought hard to reach 8-108 after they had been on the ropes early at 4-19 in the fifth over.

“We thought 108 was going to be fairly competitive. The wicket looked like an absolute belter, but probably didn’t play like one,” Bendigo United captain Harry Donegan said.

“But close games can go either way and unfortunately for us, it went their way tonight.

“You can’t take anything away from our bowlers. I thought they did a great job and there were only a few loose balls in the 20 overs, but full credit to White Hills.”

Twenty20 premiers:

2009: Golden Square

2010: Strathdale

2011: Strathdale

2012: Strathdale

2013: Strathfieldsaye

2014: Huntly-North

2015: Bendigo

2016: Strathdale

2017: Bendigo United

2018: White Hills