Central Park-St Brendan’s off to a winning Haisman Shield start after overcoming Old Students

Contesting the Andrew Adem trophy, named after a man who more than capably represented both clubs, Central Park unsurprisingly elected to have first crack with the ball.

With a dependable bowling unit unlike any other last season, the Tigers further reinforced their defence with the introduction of former Student Nate Earl in the gloves for his club debut.

His impact was felt up and down the Students’ innings, claiming a stumping on Ed Pike in addition to catching Luke McPhillamy and James Meek behind, the latter serving as the final wicket as Old Students set 146 for victory.

Oscar Lambourn, riding the momentum of a successful first senior campaign with Shepparton in the Goulburn Valley League, provided his side’s top knock with 36 as Brendan Scott and Ramadan Yze combined for seven wickets.

With that out of the way and skies turning ominously grey, it was up to Rhiley Lau and Jack McCarten, focusing only on his batting for the day, to get a supposedly bolstered Central Park batting order into full steam.

Liam Callegari, who shot into folklore with a single-handed path of destruction in taking nine wickets against Karramomus late last season, powered on in removing both Tiger openers.

At that point, all eyes cast to the returning Connor Hayes, coming in at four with big expectations matched only by the aspirations of his coach Tyler Larkin.

He provided the middle-order steel to steer the Tigers’ ship in what became a game-high 44-run partnership for the fourth wicket with fellow new inclusion Mitchell Brett before Maninderjit Singh had him caught behind off the bowling of skipper Callan McCabe.

With eventual top scorer Hayes removed for 39, Brett took on the lion’s share of the remaining job before, poetically, the former Student in Earl punched through the winning runs with a boundary off his second ball, the Tigers getting home with a handy five-wicket win with a third of their 45 overs to spare.

Shortly after receiving the trophy, Larkin looked back on what he saw as a truly collaborative outing.

“Our best-and-fairest is named after ‘AA’. It’s a big trophy to play for and it was really pleasing from our end to get it back,” Larkin said.

“It was a really pleasing effort. We had a look back at the scorecard and we only bowled five wides.

“They batted well through the middle overs to post a challenging score on a challenging wicket, but to have a win is very satisfying.

“It was a good team performance; I felt there were no massive standouts and I think the evenness of the way we played was good.

“Hopefully we can replicate that throughout the season, which should hold us in good stead.”

With an appetising fixture up next, it’s safe to say he was thankful to have Hayes back in the side contributing in pivotal portions as well.

“He just looked a level above,” Larkin said.

“He was able to adapt to the wicket pretty quickly and played shots with confidence.

“That was the type of innings we were missing, so I was pleased he was able to come back and get straight into his work.

“We spoke briefly after the game about the fact Nagambie’s a very good team.

“It must have been four or five years since we actually played them at Nagambie, so it’ll be a challenge, but we’re up for that fight.”