It was a horror finish to the year 2022 for the Nagambie A-grade side as it fell to Shepparton United in the biggest of the Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield season on Saturday.
Making the trip to United’s temporary Central Park Recreation Reserve home, it was widely tipped that the Lakers would return back down the Goulburn Valley Hwy with a third straight win in their pockets.
But they did not bank on a complete performance by the young Shepparton United squad, as it produced an imposing first innings total of 8-187 before it bowled Nagambie out for just 107 to complete the incredible upset.
Leaving a sour taste in his team’s mouth as it heads into the Christmas break outside of the top six, skipper Mark Nolan admitted it was simply a horrible day out.
“All round it was just pretty average cricket by us,” Nolan said.
“In the early stages we were on top having them two for not many, but from then on we were terrible to be honest.
“We dropped some easy catches, bowled poorly through the middle period and just leaked far too many runs.
“And then with the bat we were also just poor, the top five would be pretty disappointed and in the end we just got ourselves out more than their bowling did.
“It was just one of those days where it didn’t work for us.”
Winning the toss and batting first, United found itself in all sorts of trouble early as openers Connor and Tyler Green departed within the first two overs to have it reeling at 2-5.
Bringing the experience of Rehan Bari to the crease, he went about building the recovery effort beautifully, as he absorbed the pressure of the Nagambie attack and took the opportunity to score when they presented.
Initially partnered by Steven Tate (20), the pair added 38 for the third wicket before star all-rounder Mahesh Kodamullage (34) came to the crease and played with confidence.
Proving the perfect foil for Bari, the duo put on a 74-run stand to swing the game in United’s favour.
The Lakers would wrestle back some control by dismissing the two set batters in quick time and Nolan taking a trio of wickets to finish with figures of 4-31.
But Harwinder Singh quickly picked up the slack, with his 37 off 43 balls helping lift the home team to a healthy total of 8-187.
Despite having the runs on the board, United was well aware the job was only half done as it returned to the field for the second innings.
Led by a band of young quicks, Joe Hammond (2-25) and Hamish McGregor (2-22) continued on from the good work of the batters, taking key wickets to have the Lakers reeling at 4-38.
The spin of Kodamullage (3-18) and Bari (2-15) then took over through the middle portion of the innings, as the pair once again combined beautifully to take five wickets and bowl Nagambie out for 107.
A tough pill to swallow leading into the Christmas break, Nolan said he was confident his team would regroup and be able to make a finals charge in the new year.
“It (the loss) was not the way we wanted to go into Christmas given all the momentum we had built over the past two weeks,” he said.
“I just think we’ve been too inconsistent so far, our best is very good but our worst is very bad, so the goal for us is to limit that gap.
“We were 2-3 last year at the Christmas break and still managed to finish in the top four, so I know the talent is there in our team, we just need to find it and hopefully we can sneak in again.”