Haisman Shield | Complete batting performance lifts Old Students to first win of season

Robertson’s efforts coupled with Callan McCabe’s (48) and Felix Odell’s (39) were enough to lift Old Students to an ominous 5-236, a total they would be successful in defending.

A much-anticipated victory for the young Students side after a tough start to its campaign, coach Gino Saracino said the win served as a great “reward for effort’’.

“It was just good to get a win, the boys in the A-grade have been working very hard, so to get a positive result was fantastic,” Saracino said.

“Based on the scorecard it was clear that the boys deserved to come away with the points and the performance showed we are on the right track.”

Winning the toss in beautiful conditions at Kialla, United sprung a surprise and chose to bowl, and received some early success in removing opener Sam O’Brien for a duck.

But after that it was one-way traffic.

With Robertson taking the lead alongside young gun Oscar Lambourn (21), the pair ground United into the turf and combined for a 58-run stand.

Odell then picked up the slack, powering his way to 39 off 28 balls, before skipper McCabe came to the crease and continued the assault with a classy 48.

A constant throughout the innings, Robertson looked set for a hundred before holing out to Tyler Green in search of quick runs.

But with the platform set, Students were able to accelerate in the final overs and push up to a commanding total of 5-236.

“The key was that the top six fired,” Saracino said of the batting effort.

“United’s bowling was a little bit thin, so we saw it as a bit of an opportunity to put up a big score and the boys truly obliged with Josh (Robertson) leading the way.

“It was a very complete performance with the bat and showed the development of our young guys at the top of the order.”

Despite being well on top of the game as the second innings began, it was a sloppy start from the Students’ bowlers as Shepparton United openers Green (46) and Mitchell Jarrett (24) putting on 74 for the first wicket.

The experienced Rehan Bari then continued the United charge, striking 48 of his own to have his team in a position to cause an upset.

But just as it looked like challenging the strong total, talented leggie Liam Callegari came into the attack and spun a web, taking 4-47 to rip the heart out of the United middle-order.

Batting out their overs, the visitors would finish at 9-208, 28 short of the mammoth Old Students total.

“If we were 2-3 after yesterday I think that’d be a fair result, but unfortunately we are just behind the pace at 1-4,” Saracino said.

“But now we’ve got the win hopefully we can take some confidence in the fact that the rest of the competition is not that far in front of us.”