Gallery | Numurkah hands Central Park-St Brendan’s the B-grade grand final Blues

After all, 15 runs from 54 balls with six wickets in hand is a near-unlosable position.

However, the cricket gods can be cruel. Every cricketer — no matter the grade — never feels safe their team has won until that final run is made.

Central Park-St Brendan’s won the toss and elected to bat to start Cricket Shepparton’s B-grade one-day grand final.

Despite the pristine batting conditions, it was the bowlers who took ascendancy of the contest early.

The Blues made quick inroads into the visitors' batting line-up and with the score at 4-48, the Tigers had to reassess and begin a slow recovery in an effort to see out their 45 overs.

Number four batter Sam Holland was the anchor of Central Park-St Brendan’s innings as he scored a composed 60* off 110 balls.

While Holland prevented the Tigers from collapsing, none of his batting partners could settle in and push the scoring rate except for a late effort from captain Jack Hooper (25 runs off 29 balls).

Central Park-St Brendan’s finished its innings on 7-156, leaving the door wide open for a maiden B-grade one-day grand final win for Numurkah.

While Holland anchored the Tigers' innings, the Blues’ Kody Jackson was the conductor of Numurkah’s.

Jackson was in the midst of a form slump but rallied to reach his highest total of the season as he struck a match-winning 61 runs from 79 balls (nine boundaries).

Numurkah captain Jahlan Lau said he was proud of how Jackson performed when his teammates needed him to.

“(Jackson) was brilliant out there,” Lau said.

“He is one of my best mates and I put the pressure on him at the start of the day.

“I said, ‘We really need you to stand up for the team’, and the way he went about it was fantastic.

“It was really good for him and really good for us.”

Jackson would go on to receive man-of-the-match honours for his performance, but the Blues’ eventual victory would not go without a few nervous moments.

Needing 14 runs to win and with 53 balls remaining, Lau was on the wrong end of a risky quick single and was run out to the dismay of him and his team.

This meant veteran duo Gino Saracino and Tyson Woods were at the crease to try and steer Numurkah home.

However, the final 14 runs proved painstaking to collect as the pair had a defensive mindset.

So slow was their approach to securing the last few runs that it took until the final over of the match for the game to be decided.

Lau said a few nerves were building on the sidelines as the game crept towards the final over.

“(The boys watching on) probably did (feel nervous),” he said.

“There were a couple of bad mistakes; a bad run-out and a bad shot.

“Going forward we have to get better at (finishing games well).”

Aside from Jackson’s effort with the bat, Lau credited his bowlers’ performances on a batter-friendly wicket.

“On a really good batting pitch I thought we really bowled well,” he said.

“Reydan Lacuin (2-21 from nine overs), I thought the way he bowled was fantastic.

“It was just a real team effort (with the ball).”

In terms of how the Blues will celebrate their five-wicket grand final victory, Lau said they won’t stray away from the norm.

“We will have a few beers tonight in the rooms,” he said.

“We know going forward there is a lot of cricket to be played.

“There is a bigger prize there (a two-day flag) to be won if we are good enough.”