As the mercury soared momentum swung consistently at Country Club Oval but in the end, thanks largely to a composed knock former skipper Matt Findlay – filling in with his side understrength – the Warriors closed out a crucial victory.

With his side needing 217 for victory Findlay, who finished 39 not out, came to the crease in the 30^th over with his side sitting 3-112 and needing a tick under a run-a-ball to secure the win.

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He and skipper Ed Morrish (41) added 83 for the fourth wicket and looked likely to cruise home before Fletcher Rose (2-28) gave his side a sniff by bowling the latter then trapping Brett Causer (0) in front two balls later.

Shaun Kirby (10 not out) joined Findlay with their side still needing 22 from 30 balls to win, the fighting Centrals forcing the pair to push hard as they were left with 10 to get from the last two overs.

The penultimate over went for seven and virtually ended the chase, the pair then scampering through for the winning runs with four balls left.

“It was a great game of cricket. The Centrals boys played really well and kept themselves in it until the end, it was good to get over the line when we had a few guys missing though,” Morrish said.

“Fin did a great job to get us over the line, he batted really well and controlled the chase. Kirby did well at the end too, it was a good team performance though because a lot of guys chipped in.”

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“It was an exciting game, played in good spirits too. A bit of a shame we couldn’t get there, but we fought hard and we know where we went wrong,” Kennewell said, pointing the amount of sundries his side conceded in particular.

Centrals conceded 46 extras to Orange City’s 18 and 25 of those were wides, a handful coming in the dying overs too.

“That was where we let ourselves down, me included, with those wides at crucial times,” Kennewell said.

“It was hot and the boys were buggered by the end so you can forgive a few sliding down the leg side to an extent, but we just bowled too many and gave Orange City a real leg-up.”

The Warriors enjoyed the early momentum after snaring the wickets of Nick Dunlop (11) and Jack Dodds (10) early to leave Centrals struggling at 2-36 on a flat deck.

But Matt Tedeschi (65), Jake Pauletto (33) and George Olsen (21) earned control back and helped push the red and blacks to a more-than-competitive total, with Brett Causer (3-51) and Findlay (2-12) the Warriors’ multiple wicket-takers.

Josh Cheney was also superb, taking miserly figures of 1-15 from 10 straight overs.

Before Findlay and Morrish came together in the chase Blake Weymouth (12) fell early and Troy O’Keeffe (16) was forced to retire hurt, with Darren Barrett (27) and Shaun Grenfell (22) making starts but failing to go on with them.

The top grade now moves back to two-day cricket until the end of the 2018-19 summer.