After a rainout and a bye Euroa finally took the pitch Saturday at home to Central Park-St Brendan’s, but it might have been left wishing it didn’t have to play this fixture either.
The Tigers played Euroa off its own park, maintaining tight clamps with the ball before chasing a paltry 107 down in less than 20 overs.
Euroa co-captain Scott Hamilton picked his spots well in reaching 30 off 42 balls (six fours) before his 43rd delivery faced was a simple looping shot taken at mid-off that signalled the end of Euroa’s offensive production at 2-43.
THE GAME
Central Park-St. Brendan’s 2/108 (T. Larkin 56*, R. Ash 36, J. Lloyd 1/16) d Euroa 107 (S. Hamilton 30, R. Yze 3/20, D. Vidler 3/26)
STAR PLAYER
Dwain Vidler (CPSTB): Another hardworking outing from Vidler, picking up three straight middle-order wickets including the most important of the game, breaking up Euroa’s only threatening partnership left and initiating the collapse.
The entire second half of the Magpies’ order collapsed in grand fashion, falling from 5-100 to 107 all out with fewer than four overs remaining as Ramadan Yze continued a fine spell with the two clean-up scalps.
The saying goes that one should only judge the quality of a pitch once both teams have batted on it, and a third-ball dismissal of opener Andrew Cowen may have given Euroa some belief in defending its tally.
But from there it was academic, as skipper Tyler Larkin came in at three and put a simple chase on his shoulders with an unbeaten half-century that easily sealed the deal.
“We took a bit of a gamble bowling first,” Larkin said.
“They haven’t played their first games, so we thought we could get them early and we bowled really consistently and tightly.
“We thought with our straight field we might be able to get a few quick ones at the end, so it was a good effort.”
One may liken Euroa’s innings to a Test-like batting session, requiring almost all 45 overs to dismiss the Magpies despite the lack of threatening offence.
On the other side, events were much more on a one-day pace.
“The runs don’t really suggest how difficult it was early,” Larkin said.
“They bowled tight areas and we only really got ahold of them once their openers were done.
“To see a young fella like Ryan Ash get through a tough period and cash in with some runs was really good.”
With multiple bowlers boasting three-wicket hauls and an attack that combined for 10 maidens, how do you pick just one to highlight?
“Everyone came in and did their role whenever asked,” Larkin said.
“(Brendan) Scott and (Dwain) Vidler’s period through the middle order was excellent.
“As a coach, it’s nice not having to pull my hair out and work out what comes next when we have two Cricket Shepparton legends in the middle.”
Wins like this typically provide momentum for the victors to ride into their next fixture.
The Tigers will need to bide their time with a bye looming this week, which is a source of mild frustration.
“It’s been a bit of a stop-start season having not played last week either, which is not ideal,” Larkin said.
“It’ll give the boys a chance to freshen up and hopefully we come out all guns blazing against Katandra.”