KANGAROO Flat will ride an eight-game winning streak into the Bendigo District Cricket Association grand final after comprehensively booking its spot on Saturday.
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The defending premier Roos thrashed Sandhurst inside the first day of their semi final clash at Dower Park.
As they have done so often over the past two seasons the Roos won the toss and bowled and needed less than 30 overs to rout the Dragons for just 79.
Coming off a first innings score of 43 in an outright loss to Bendigo in the final round of the season, Sandhurst's batting woes continued at the most critical time of the year in what was the Dragons' first final since 2018.
At one stage Sandhurst looked like it could again be bowled out for the second game in a row after crashing to 9-45 just 19 overs into the day.
However, the final pair of Liam Bowe and Ben Evans showed plenty of grit in what must have seemed like a futile assignment against the competition's best bowling attack.
From 9-45 Bowe (28) and Evans (8 n.o.) added 34 for the final wicket to push the Dragons' score to 79.
Bowe's 28 off 30 was clearly the top score for the Dragons, while opener Tom Starr had the longest stint at the crease of 39 balls for his 10.
Six Sandhurst batsmen were dismissed for five or less, while the first nine wickets fell with the score at 3, 3, 22, 24, 31, 37, 37, 38 and 45.
Dylan Klemm (2-26) set the tone for the Roos claiming the first two wickets of Sandhurst's Liam Stubbings (1) and Jasper Langley (0) off the first two deliveries of the fourth over of the day.
After Klemm's two early wickets Roos' coach Brent Hamblin took over with a five-wicket haul.
Hamblin's season-best 5-23 off 12 overs included the key scalps of Starr, Sandhurst captain Dylan Gibson (11) and Ash Gray (2).
Kangaroo Flat has won seven tosses this season, with Saturday the fifth time the Roos had opted to bowl first, bucking the trend to great success of the importance of getting runs on the board in a final.
"Our bowling over our batting is something we probably lean on a bit more, but the wicket was probably slightly underdone to be fair," Kangaroo Flat captain Jake Klemm said.
"The council decided to water it on Tuesday night, so we weren't able to start prepping it until Wednesday night/Thursday morning, which was part of the reason for winning the toss and bowling.
"But the wicket wasn't anything to do with the result, it was just the boys at the top bowling exceptionally well.
"Hammer and Dyl really set us up with the ball... they were bang on from the start and the day panned out the way it did."
The wicket wasn't anything to do with the result, it was just the boys at the top bowling exceptionally well
- Jake Klemm - Kangaroo Flat captain
Having ripped through the Dragons in just 27.2 overs Kangaroo Flat had some early anxious moments at 3-14 in reply with the trio of Daniel Barber (1), Chris Barber (3) and Jake Klemm (5) all having been dismissed by Zac Sims.
However, the duo of Matt Dwyer and Dylan Klemm negotiated the Roos out of the tricky spot early and batted Kangaroo Flat to victory three wickets down.
The game continued after the Roos had passed Sandhurst's total with the Dragons clinging on to hope of trying to orchestrate a reverse outright, but after 42 overs with Kangaroo Flat 6-138 stumps were pulled leaving no need for a second day on Sunday.
Given at one stage during the day 13 wickets had fallen for 92 runs left-hander Dwyer's 55 off 81 balls with five fours and one six stood out like a beacon, while Dylan Klemm made a determined 36 to go with his early damage with the ball.
After his three early wickets Sims finished with 4-29 from 11 overs for the Dragons, who have taken massive steps forward this year after finishing ninth last season, but would be bitterly disappointed with how their 2023-24 campaign came to a crashing end at the hands of the Roos, who now get the chance to defend their flag in next weekend's grand final.
