Final-wicket heroics from Linton Jacobs and Liam Smith guided the BDCA to a thrilling win over Sunraysia at Melbourne Country Week on Tuesday.
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The BDCA looked in danger of dropping a game it had control of for much of the day when it slumped to 9-156 chasing Sunraysia's total of 174 at Bill Lawry Oval in Northcote.
Golden Square's Smith joined Strathdale's Jacobs at the crease and the experienced duo calmly went about reeling in the required runs.
The BDCA still required nine runs off the final two overs, but a Jacobs six over mid-wicket in the penultamite over eased the pressure.
Jacobs took strike with two runs required off the final six balls. After playing out four dot balls, he flicked a low full toss just over the mid-wicket fieldsman and it raced away to the boundary.
It was fitting that Jacobs hit the winning runs in his great mate Ben DeAraugo's 50th Melbourne Country Week appearance.
DeAraugo became just the sixth player in BDCA history to reach the 50-game milestone.
Adam Burns (61), Leon Grose (56), Ray Johns (55), Wayne Walsh (55) and John Hammill (54) are the only players ahead of him.
Despite the win, a frustrated BDCA coach Wayne Walsh gave the players a verbal spray.
"We tried to throw the game away with some very poor shot selection,'' Walsh said.
"I didn't sugar coat anything. I told the players the way it is and they can take that any way they like. Good players turn 10, 15 or 20 into big scores and we didn't have anyone do that today.
"I was disappointed with our batting."
Dylan Gibson (36), Sam Johnston (34) and Jacobs (22 not out) led the way with the bat for the BDCA.
Kyle Humphrys (20), Shane Koop (13), Zane Keighran (11) and Ben DeAraugo (11) all got starts, but failed to push on.
Cory Jacobs (3-41), Brent Hamblin (2-31), Johnston (2-33) and Smith (2-13) did the damage with the ball for the BDCA.
The BDCA's win combined with West Gippsland's bonus point victory over South West put the BDCA in control of its pool.
The BDCA plays South West at Greenvale in round three on Wednesday and it only needs to avoid a bonus point defeat to secure a berth in Thursday's semi-finals.