Tallangatta strangled St Patrick's in the middle and late overs to claim a thrilling four-run win in the T20 grand final on Sunday in Cricket Albury-Wodonga provincial.
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The concept proved a winner with a terrific crowd watching the decider at Albury's Billson Park.
It was a feisty clash with a number of verbal bouts between the teams, including after the match as the sides were shaking hands, but the umpires confirmed there were no reports.
Tallangatta made 8-157, but when St Pat's powered to 0-66 from only six overs, the strong total looked unlikely to stop the Patties snapping a premiership drought.
However, from the next 13 overs, the unbeaten Patties lost 8-66.
"They had a really good power play, it's hard to defend, they were hitting them cleanly, so we had to take the pace off and try and bowl a ball that wasn't going to get hit for four," Tallangatta captain-coach Matt Armstrong offered.
"We bowled three or four dot balls and then got a wicket, it turns pretty quickly."
Instead of the Patties breaking a finals drought, a steady flow of wickets saw the Bushies snap their own barren run of eight years without a flag.
"We've struggled the last four or five years, I guess, for us to get there, we're not the youngest or the quickest, but it's massive for us," delighted Bushies' president and enormously popular association figure Jon Thomas revealed.
St Patrick's finished its innings on 8-143, but the umpires conferred after the match and penalised Tallangatta 10 runs for a slow over rate, meaning the Patties were within one shot of winning the match.
The league's best bat Shoaib Shaikh had posted 20 runs from 17 balls, but he was dismissed in bizarre circumstances when he pulled away from the crease, claiming he wasn't ready, as Tendai Chisoro delivered the ball.
The umpire gave Shaikh out and it set the tone for a fiery game.
Former Sri Lankan international Dilhara Lokuhettige made 48 from only 34 deliveries, monstering four sixes and two boundaries, while Englishman Matt Oswell chipped in with 46 from 35 balls.
At 3-145 after 17 overs, the Bushies looked capable of 170-plus, but Chisoro and teenager Josh Murphy restricted them to the 8-157.
Zimbabwean international Chisoro and Neil Smith launched themselves, racing along at 11 runs an over from the first six.
Lokuhettige claimed Chisoro for 37 from only 22 balls, including a six and four fours and when he was given a send off, the match looked capable of boiling over.
Smith fell shortly after for 32 and the Patties never recovered.
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"It's always tough chasing a good score in a final, we got out-played," Patties' coach Liam Scammell offered.
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