Hey, hey, Hayes: Central Park-St Brendan’s bat Connor Hayes produces magical Haisman Shield ton

This weekend was the beginning of the Cricket Shepparton two-day format for the 2024-25 competition.

In their first season in A-grade, the Lodgers are yet to win a match, but have impressed with their ability with the Kookaburra in hand.

This prowess was present during the opening stages of the first day’s play, with star quick Tiron Fernando and captain Travis Waters combining for four wickets early.

The Tigers were on 4-36 at one stage, with the real threat of a collapse looming large.

However, while his teammates faltered around him, middle-order batter Connor Hayes produced what will surely be regarded as one of the performances of the season come March.

The gun batter struck 144 runs from 172 balls in a commanding display that included 14 boundaries and one six.

Hayes quickly became a problem for the Lodgers’ talented attack, as his willow continuously carved the ball through gaps in the field.

No other top-order batters contributed more than 13 runs, so it was left to the lower-order to stick with Hayes as the Tigers began rocketing towards a tall total.

Ramadan Yze (26 runs off 43 balls) and Brendan Scott (48 off 89) were the next best run scorers, coming in at eight and nine in the order, respectively.

From a Pine Lodge perspective, Fernando (4-59 from 18 overs) and Waters (3-46 from 15.3) were the two best with the red rock.

Hayes was eventually dismissed by Waters and, with that, Central Park-St Brendan’s captain Tyler Larkin declared at 9-276.

This left the Tigers’ bowlers with 11 overs to make a dent in the Lodgers’ batting line-up.

Veteran Yze transferred his form with the bat into his bowling as he dismissed Pine Lodge’s Hayden Cann and Ryan Kearney for ducks.

Despite having success with the ball this season, Pine Lodge has struggled with bat in hand.

Heading into this round six fixture, only three Lodgers had made more than 50 runs across the first five rounds of the season — import Emile Haratbar led with 79.

At stumps, Pine Lodge was on 2-25 trailing by 251 with one day’s play to go.

Larkin said Pine Lodge bowled well from the get-go on Saturday.

“Fernando was bowling really well to us early, the ball was swinging a fair bit and he is quite a smart bowler,” Larkin said.

“From our end, we didn’t give our wickets away, we pretty much knicked off or got bowled with good balls and we can cop that — they are a good bowling side.

“Connor was able to get into their fifth and sixth bowlers, which is where he made his runs.

“Being 6-60 at one stage to 9-276 meant it was a good day, but it could have definitely looked different.”

The Tigers captain also spoke glowingly of Hayes’ effort and impact with the bat.

“It was a professional way to go about it,” he said.

“(Hayes) took his time early and then caught up towards the end there.

“He looked unflappable all day, he was certainly playing on a different wicket compared to the rest of us.”

While Hayes’ influence with the willow was massive, Larkin did note how important Yze and Scott’s contributions were to giving the Tigers such an imposing total.

“(Yze and Scott) are trusted insurance policies almost, they have done it so many times over their careers,” he said.

“They have a lot of fight in them and they got us out of trouble for sure.”