The Flames won the toss at Northern Oval and decided to get on the front foot on their home deck.
This aggressive approach was a masterstroke by captain Rob Salter, as openers Tim Nelson and Miller Griffiths built a strong platform through the first 20 overs of the innings.
Griffiths (44) was the first to depart, caught short of his half-century by Harry Wright off Jimmy Gelletly’s bowling.
Nelson (29) was next to go, the second breakthrough coming in the 26th over from a nice caught-and-bowled effort by Blake Gibson.
Much like the opening pair, Bohden Learmonth and Brett Andison were able to partner effectively, building another stand to not allow L-G to gain momentum.
Learmonth toiled hard for his 21, but was undone by Marcus Stubbs, caught by Tyler Jones.
Andison (44) got to the same score as Griffiths, albeit 40 balls faster, before he was caught by Simon Tatt off Stubbs, the seamer striking again.
Wickets began flowing more freely for L-G after the top four were out, the last three wickets falling in 10 balls.
Shannon Fleming (7) was caught by Josh O’Shea off James Keath’s bowling, Salter was gone for a golden duck at the hands of Tatt and Kaine Herbert (13) was beaten all ends up by Keath.
Cohan Cooper (19 not-out) and Shaun Doolan (13 not-out) were able to steady the ship and steer Fire Brigade home, finishing its 45 overs on 7-200.
Needing 201 for victory, L-G needed a good start and for a couple of its better batters to go on and get a good score.
L-G openers Josh O’Shea and Tyler Jones were able to navigate the first 11 overs and develop a reasonable partnership before O’Shea (11) was caught by Salter.
The strongest pairing came from Jones and first-drop Wright, who were able to carve out a significant second-wicket stand and break the back of the innings.
The Flames’ second scalp didn’t come until the 32nd over, where Jones (61) was caught by Shannon Fleming off Herbert’s bowling.
Unfortunately for L-G, the end of Jones’ and Wright’s partnership gave way to a challenging period of play for the visitors, losing the wickets of Wright (30), Scott Lucas (nine) and James Keath (golden duck) in five balls.
Suddenly, at 5-127 after 37 overs, new batters Tatt and Jason Keath had some work to do if they were going to get their side the 75 runs still required in eight overs.
The pair was able to battle through a bowling attack with its tail up, but wasn’t able to produce enough runs quickly enough.
With their backs against the wall, Tatt and Keath had to go for it, but in doing so, tried to sneak an extra run and the former was run out in the 44th over for 25.
Jason Keath (30 not-out) and Stubbs (4 not-out) were left to finish off the run chase, with L-G falling 26 runs short.
This victory pushes the Flames back into the finals picture while simultaneously pushing L-G into the hot seat down the stretch.
Elsewhere, Tongala’s sturdy start with the bat was unwound by Bamawm-Lockington United as the Blues conceded a loss at home.
Alex Williams (31) and Stephen Townsend (25) set the platform, but most of the Tongala order couldn’t follow suit as the host was bowled out for 110, leaving the door open for BLU to chase down the runs for the loss of five wickets.
Rochester’s winning run was halted by Echuca, with the Tigers stopped 66 runs short of the latter’s 9-181 total.
Finally, Echuca South held on for a gritty three-wicket triumph over Nondies Cohuna as Rathika Rajakumara (39 runs) top scored for the Swans.
