The Bushrangers took to the field first against Rovers United Bruck in round four and drew first blood immediately at Benalla Gardens Oval, with a sizzling Tom O'Donnell peach on the fifth ball tearing middle stump out of the ground.
After a minor recalibration from the Hawks, Tom of the Osborne variation kept his line and length true to the stumps as opener Charith Perera danced down the wicket, only to hear the death rattle behind him.
They say one brings two, and as much was true for Osborne, with Rover Jacob Schoafinger cutting aerially to point on his second ball for Osborne’s second pole in three deliveries.
Rovers United Bruck was just about on the canvas as Osborne’s next over brought further heat on the men in yellow, a half-hearted pull shot bobbing up a simple catch in the outfield for James Carboon, but as the travelling supporter base looked on flatly at a 4-36 scoreline, the game was set to shift against Benalla.
A brilliant innings from Jonty Oliver was hard to swallow after he was dropped on three, upping the runs tally alongside a patient Dean Shaw, producing an even 100-run partnership before Shaw skied a Lee Brennan spin delivery straight up for a safe wicketkeeper catch.
However, Oliver continued to make runs, now in quick time, hustling through for two to reach his century off 111 deliveries.
Yet by innings end, his run rate had ballooned to quicker than a run a ball, scoring at will through the offside and leg side, doing so both aerially and by picking gaps.
Oliver chopped on in the 43rd over, and four balls later Rovers United Bruck’s innings concluded, two overs shortened due to early rain.
Osborne’s 3-44 was the pick of the bowlers, while Ross Cavill (2-56), O’Donnell (1-32) and Brennan (1-35) also took scalps as the Hawks finished on 7-241.
While it was RUBCC’s Jonty Oliver that made the bulk of the runs in the opening innings, it was Jonty of the Priest variety to do so for the Bushies.
Priest raced out to a rapid start alongside Carboon, but soon the weather gods turned against the free flowing Bushrangers’ batting.
Rain began bucketing down as the sixth over began, players sprinting off the deck to get the covers on the pitch as Benalla sat at 0-30.
Wild, wet and windy, the day’s play was halted for about 10 minutes, not substantial but enough to require the Duckworth Lewis (DLS) method to set Benalla a new target for victory.
With the innings shortened to 37 overs, the target shrunk from 241 to 216 as Priest and Carboon took to the crease again.
The duo picked up where they had left off for a handful of overs, before Carboon was knocked over for 14 after a solid 47-run partnership from 58 balls.
Priest and new man in the pads Cavill continued the openers’ start to give Benalla the advantage, with Priest notching his half-century in the duration of the fresh pairing’s partnership.
It was not long after Priest raised the bat that he was caught out though, however a 56-run partnership had set the Bushrangers up for a victorious tilt, despite being slightly off the pace of the required run rate,
Cavill and O’Donnell pressed on to avoid a collapse, but when Cavill departed for 37, the scoreboard pressure saw lapses in concentration hand Rovers United Bruck cheap wickets to shift the ascendancy back in its favour.
Five wickets fell between overs 29 and 36, and as the final over beckoned, Benalla required a near-impossible miracle - 35 runs off the last six balls.
Valiantly batted by Harrison Skelton and Thomas Snell, the middle-lower order duo notched 11 off the final over, in a modest 23-run loss to the second-placed Hawks, finishing 7-193.
Benalla will travel to face current ladder leaders Yarrawonga in round five, in what will be a test of resilience for the Bushrangers to turn around their form slump.
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