Nagambie brought its winless start to the Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield season to an end on Saturday, overcoming Numurkah with a nail-biting 16-run win.
Through Brock Boddington’s five-wicket haul and important wickets from Jonathan Moore and Brayden Biggs, the Lakers managed to defend their first innings total of 128 and toppled the Blues for 112 off 36 overs.
After a shaky start to the campaign, coach Mark Nolan said he was pleased his side had managed to get off the mark in round four.
“It was a good win and one we needed to have to get the season kick-started,” Nolan said.
“We were looking pretty ordinary early. Tyrone (Muir) and Zac (Winter-Irving) batted really well through the middle and managed to get us to a score that we thought we could defend.”
A masterclass from Numurkah’s strike bowlers tore through Nagambie’s top order in the first innings to have the host at 4-23 after 11 overs.
Riley Dawson spearheaded the effort and sent Luke and Mark Nolan packing, before assisting in Dale Short’s run-out the ball after Mark Nolan’s dismissal in the 11th over.
But Winter-Irving (33) and Muir (33) — the only two Lakers batters to reach double figures — managed to compile a crucial partnership which salvaged their side’s innings.
“It was their partnership throughout the middle that really helped us,” Nolan said.
“They summed up the conditions, hit a lot of singles off their spinners and batted responsibly. They’re both cool heads and they enjoy batting together.”
In reply, Nolan said his side knew full well it would have to pull off something special to keep Numurkah’s star-studded batting unit to below 128.
“We knew we were going to have to take early wickets, their top order is really good and we were hoping for about 160-170, but when we were sitting at 4-20 we were happy to get to where we did,” Nolan said.
An early wicket from Jonathan Moore and a run-out had the Blues off to a nervy start, but a mature performance from star bat Michael Eckard kept the visitors in control.
“He’s a good bat and scores quickly. If he batted for another five overs it was probably game over for us,” Nolan said.
“I gave Jono (Moore) the new ball — he was swinging it and got two massive wickets up top which gave us a bit of momentum.
“They got on a bit of a run and we had our backs against the wall. At drinks they were 5-80. We got Liam (Gledhill) out early after drinks and managed to get on a bit of a roll after that.”
After Boddington removed the prized wicket of Gledhill in the 30th over, the Seymour veteran cleaned up Numurkah’s tail to bring the day to a close in the 36th over.
THE GAME
Nagambie 128 (Zac Winter-Irving 33, Tyrone Muir 33, Riley Dawson 2-16, Mitch Grandell 2-24) d Numurkah 112 (Liam Gledhill 34, Michael Eckard 33, Brock Boddington 5-21, Jonathan Moore 2-22)
STAR PLAYER
Brock Boddington (Nagambie): A superb five-wicket haul from the Lakers’ left-armer saw off Numurkah’s tail and snuffed out any chance of a late-order resistance. Boddington’s spell during the death overs finished off the fine work from the Lakers’ quicks earlier in the piece.