Chasing a small total of 70 runs, the Saints fell to 7/57 and were in danger of letting the game slip.
The second placed Berrigan side kept their cool however, to record a win to keep them in the hunt of pinching the minor premiership from Cobram this weekend.
Tocumwal won the toss and elected to bat first on a warm and humid afternoon at Berrigan.
Cody Deegan and Ranji Oliver opened the batting with Matt Ross and Tom Beams taking the new ball.
The Saints struck early with Beams (4/19 off eight) catching a straight forward caught and bowled to remove Deegan for a duck.
Aaron Coulson (1) was the new man in and next over Ross (2/10 off six) clean bowled him with an in-swinging yorker.
The Saints continued their pressure when Hunter Hardwidge was run out by Oliver for duck and when Christina Roberts failed to score and was trapped LBW, the Bloods had collapsed to 4/13.
Rod Meloury (5) joined Oliver in the middle and the pair struggled to score,
Brad Loats (1/17 off four) made a breakthrough for the Saints with Meloury snicking one through to the keeper and Tocumwal were now 5/31.
Dale Chandler was next in and looked to score quickly. This was ultimately his downfall when Whelan (1/8 off five) clean bowled him for just four runs.
With Tocumwal now 6/37, Andy Arthur came in to bat and with Oliver the two started to steady the Bloods’ batting.
They added 12 to the score before Oliver (29) was caught behind off the bowling of Darcy Pyle (1/6 off three).
Robert Owen (5 not out) joined Arthur (12) and the two started swinging for the fences, adding a quick 16 runs before Beams bowled Arthur.
The next ball, Beams trapped Troy Poynton LBW for a golden duck, however he missed out on his hat-trick when Jacob Champagne come to the crease.
Champagne’s stay was not long lived when Ross had him caught for one run which saw the Bloods finish all out for 69 after 29 overs.
With a small target for the Saints to chase the opening pair of Matt Whelan and Andrew Parr took up the attack against the opening bowling of Arthur (0/10 off four) and Chandler (0/11 off one).
The two took the score to 16 quickly, dispatching bad balls to the boundary before a bowling change saw Champagne (4/14 off five) having immediate success when Whelan (4) snicked one through to the keeper.
Ross joined Parr in the middle and the two raced the score to 40, scoring at six runs an over.
A thunderstorm was brewing and this put panic into the Saints’ batting and with the first rumble of thunder proved a turning point for the Bloods.
The Saints had a collapse with the next five wickets only yielding three runs with Champagne doing most of the damage, claiming Ross (14), Parr (21), and Harley Middleton (2), while Hunter Hardwidge (2/9 off three) had Beams (0) and Lachie Pyle (0) caught.
The Saints had slumped to 6/43 and after a short rain delay the Saints resumed with Loats (2) and Nugent at the crease.
A steadier innings from Nugent saw the Saints get to 57 before Oliver (1/13 off four) slipped a yorker under Loats’ bat and bowled him.
Matt Wade (5 not out) joined Nugent (16 not out) in the middle and with some smart batting the two guided the Saints over the line, finishing 7/70 at the 20.2 over mark.
Tom Beams claimed the Tim Harris Transport Player of the Week Award for his efforts with the ball.
The Saints will now play off for top spot against Cobram this Saturday in what could be a grand final preview.
16°C