Tensions simmered through a tense afternoon, as the 14 remaining overs saw a wicket fall, plenty of chances created and only 27 runs knocked off the target.

Waking up the next morning, the team was greeted with an uncannily thick fog on their way to the ground, which managed to burn off just as teams were coming on the field. But tensions remained thick, as only 4 runs were scrambled in the first 4 overs, as openers Ben Thomas and Zack Narayan challenged the batters consistently. Then on the second ball of the 5^th morning over, the St George number three thought he left a ball outside off… which if only by divine providence, violently jagged back off the seam to take the off stump, and lead to an almost surreal passage of play. In the next over, Zack (2/33) finally got an inswinger to veer past the opener’s inside edge for a plumb LBW, before the dragon’s wings were really clipped in Ben’s next over, with enigmatic slinger clean-bowling the next two batters to complete a spell of 4/0 in 3 overs. At 5/31, all of a sudden, the target of 160 seemed that much further away.

With their best batsman at the crease, the dragons still maintained some semblance of hope… but at 5/50 St George were well and truly grounded just as penguins learned to fly – with E-Young ‘Pingu’ Khoo soaring through the sky at gully to pluck what was without a doubt, the catch of the season. Not content with just contributing in the field, Pingu (2/6) spun a web of mystery and the dragons were on the mat at 8/54. The lower order swung, ran themselves out and upon returning after lunch, Ben Thomas (4/15) completed his best figures for the club with a caught to complete the 1^st innings at 91. Without enough time to force a second innings result and the heat scorching the middle of the day, and Gold were granted passage into their first Grand Final appearance since 2015/16.