SOUTH Coast have been denied a fifth straight Burns Cup title after a heavy loss to Goulburn-Highlands in the final at Bowral's Bradman Oval on Sunday.
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Both sides had convincing wins during their preliminary finals on Saturday, and most would have expected a much closer result than the 112-run Goulburn-Highlands victory that eventuated.
In their preliminary game, South Coast, thanks to Mick Perry (92 not out) and Brendan White (68 not out), easily chased down the 201 set for them by Far South Coast for a seven-wicket victory.
Goulburn-Highlands went about winning their preliminary match-up with the ball rather than the bat, skittling the Shoalhaven line-up for 86 before posting a seven-wicket win of their own.
The final featured Goulburn-Highlands displaying they have some fire-power in their batting line-up as they posted a strong 8/256.
South Coast managed to remove openers Ben Wright (17) and Tim Goldfinch (11) relatively cheaply, along with number three batsmen Stephen McNaught (four).
Their joy would be short-lived however, with Ben Hamilton (93 not out) and Nathan Wright (55) swinging the game back into their favour.
Some handy batting down the order from Simon Reid (28) and Dane Stevenson (14) helped push out the total.
Things may have been different had first-choice South Coast spinner Matt O'Brien not had to leave the game early in the Goulburn-Highlands innings due to injury.
Ryan Chatterton was the best of the South Coast bowlers with 4/40, while Lachlan Hall took 2/46.
Needing a little more than five runs an over, South Coast would have fancied their chances of chasing down the total, but their batting line-up faltered and were dismissed for 144 after little more than 31 overs.
Openers and club-mates Nathan Barr and Ben King-Gee didn't spend long in the middle, being dismissed for five and seven respectively.
Perry, South Coast's best batsman of the carnival, managed to find somewhat of a rhythm, but couldn't locate much of a partner.
Nathan Brown (0), David Lambert (one) and Darren Mansfield (four) all came and went cheaply, while White managed double figures before being dismissed on 11.
Perry would eventually fall on 39, and it was up to the tail-enders to try and stage a heroic comeback.
Despite the best efforts of Chatterton (28), Mark Ulcigrai (10) and Scott Cox, who remained undefeated on 18, the Goulburn-Highlands' total was never really in sight.
