Gallery | Waaia chases Haisman Shield grand final double after tightest of victories

After finishing the regular season in good form and with only one loss, the Bombers were firm favourites heading into the first final.

And after Waaia restricted the Lakers to a first innings total of 131, the Bombers would have been paying $1.01 if a bookie covered Cricket Shepparton’s Haisman Shield.

But the Lakers, led by star all-rounder Mitch Winter-Irving (5-31 from 20 overs), were not ready to roll over and die as they took two wickets before stumps on Saturday to leave the Bombers on 2-31.

As the second day’s play began, the Bombers would have felt their knees wobble and teeth begin to chatter as four quick wickets left them 6-59, requiring a further 73 runs for victory.

One man who stood tall for the Bombers against a high-quality Lakers bowling attack was Quinton Venter (40 runs off 130 balls), whose effort with the bat anchored the innings.

Venter was so much of a thorn in the side of Nagambie that when dismissed, he copped a passionate send-off that included a Brett Lee-esque chainsaw celebration.

The momentum in the match kept swinging back and forth as the Bombers tried to nudge and bump their way over the line; each run scored received loud cheers from the changerooms as the batters’ teammates tried to will their side home.

Despite both teams struggling to score, Waaia captain Mitch Cleeland said the lack of runs was due to the quality of bowling rather than the pitch’s influence.

“The scores probably didn’t reflect it (the quality of the pitch), albeit it was difficult, and it moved around a lot off the seam, and anyone who applied themselves it worked for,” he said.

“One hundred and thirty probably wasn’t reflective of the wicket; it was probably more of a 180-190 sort of a wicket, I would have thought.

“I think both sides bowled really well. They have a really good bowling unit and we like to pride ourselves on that as well.”

Cleeland said his side could finally breathe again after the Bombers needed 12 runs to win with only one wicket remaining and their number 10 and 11 at the crease.

“It’s a fair relief,” he said.

“There were a lot of guys that couldn’t sit still, but yeah, more just relief.

“There were a few that did a good job. Venter did the early work, which was a little scratchy, but made it a lot easier for the guys to come in at the end, and Brayden Summerville, his 30-odd, how he made the score tick along when no-one else could.

“And then Jesse Trower getting us over the line again like he usually does.”

While Trower has been lethal with ball in hand (43 wickets for the season), this time, it was with the willow that he got the Bombers over the line as he smacked two fours to snatch victory away from the Lakers.

Nagambie captain Mark Nolan believes that while his side should be proud of how it fought in the final, it probably underperformed through the season.

“I don’t think many of us had a good year and we still managed to make finals and push the top teams,” Nolan said.

“I think if the group can reach its potential, we will be very hard to beat. But obviously, we will get together tonight and have a few drinks and reflect on the season.

“(On Saturday) at 5-30, it was pretty doom and gloom yesterday, so just to get back in the game was a pretty good effort, but they were always going to be hard to beat up here.”

Waaia will now play Mooroopna this weekend after the Cats were defeated by Kyabram.