Two rounds have passed in the Haisman Shield campaign yet two sides haven’t bowled a ball or scored a run.
Bar a shock forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology ― a BOMshell, if you will ― this will all change on Saturday.
Mooroopna has borne the brunt of unfavourable weather with its opening pair of fixtures washed out, but will face off against reigning premier Katandra on the Eagles’ home deck.
It’s a baptism of fire ― not dissimilar to Euroa’s predicament.
Wet weather scratched the Magpies’ opening round match against Mooroopna and the bye followed, meaning Scott Hamilton’s charges will debut against perennial contender Central Park-St Brendan’s.
Euroa’s skipper relayed some of the frustration associated with the false start, but said there was a silver lining to emerge on the preparation front.
“Given the delayed start to the season we’ve had a really great opportunity to extend our pre-season by a couple of weeks,” Hamilton said.
“It was a bit disappointing, given the wet weather leading up to round one; we’d anticipated a pretty good battle with Mooroopna.
“So we put all of our energy into getting ready for Mooroopna and then for unforeseen circumstances the pitch, the ground and the weather didn’t really allow us to get on, so that’s fine.
“Then we had a bit of a delayed start post all of that with the bye in round two.”
In that fortnight without play, Hamilton has been able to do some ‘‘scouting’’.
He watched as a select few A-graders played down a grade to get minutes at the crease and one Magpie stood out last weekend.
A-grade regular Vaughan Kirk struck a composed knock of 56 in Euroa’s B-grade loss to Pine Lodge, getting his eye in ahead of a colossal task in taking on the Tigers at Friendlies Oval.
“All our time and energy will go into Central Park this week,” Hamilton said.
“They’re a really quality outfit; they’re normally stacked with some top-end talent to go with the fact they’ve been successful for a long period of time.
“It’ll be a really good fight; part of the mantra we continue to instil in our group is that we want to be in the fight for longer, we want to be in the contest for longer and the results will generally look after themselves.
“So that’s our goal this week.”
Meanwhile, Shepparton United looks to build on its unbeaten record when stepping out from Princess Park for the first time this season.
United travels to Tallygaroopna to take on a winless Northerners and coach Sam Nash is relishing the early form his side has produced.
“We’re really happy with how we’ve started,” Nash said.
“I think the boys should take a lot of confidence with what we’ve done over the last two weeks and hopefully we can take that into this week.
“It’d be great to get another win, but well take it one week at a time.”
Numurkah mirrors United’s ledger with a win and a draw from the first two hit-outs.
And like Nash’s boys, the Blues take on a winless opponent in the form of Old Students away from home.
Elsewhere, Kyabram and Tatura go in search of their first points when the two teams square off on the Redbacks’ backyard and Nagambie can make it three from three if it can move Karramomus aside.
Lastly, Waaia assumes the bye a week from a blockbuster match against Katandra, with skipper Mitch Cleeland miffed his side’s head of steam has been stymied by the break.
“It’s certainly going to be a big game and, to be honest, we’d probably rather keep playing and not miss to get a little bit of continuity in what we’re doing,” Cleeland said.
“But it’ll just be about getting back to hitting the ball well and playing properly.
“I think our bowling has been okay aside from the wide and if we can eliminate that and then stick together with our batting plan and bat together in partnerships I think we’ll be okay.”