Kyabram’s giant slaying campaign continued on Saturday as it felled the Haisman Shield’s reigning premier in an inspired day out with the bat.
Away to Katandra, the Redbacks’ premier batters chased down the Eagles’ total of 243 with 10 overs to go to claim a four-wicket triumph.
It comes one game on from beating the other Cricket Shepparton 2022-23 A-grade grand finalist Central Park-St Brendan’s.
Kyabram skipper Jackson McLay stood unbeaten alongside Kyle Fitzgerald as the Redbacks ticked off another juggernaut and was pleased overall with his side’s endeavours.
“It was a good win against good opposition, but it was a fair grind on a pretty slow wicket,” he said.
“We just had to stick tough and stick to our processes, which is trying to keep wickets in the shed and build partnerships, which we were able to do.
“We ticked off all our goals and with that, the result took care of itself.
The day’s play began sluggishly, with Katandra’s stringent bowling refusing Kyabram free passage on the run-scoring front.
As McLay and Tim Nelson built a slow but steady foundation, Scott Richardson finally broke through in the 18th over as his delivery beat the latter’s bat.
Paul Parsons made an honourable start, but was dismissed for 38 by Jedd Wright, which opened the door for Kyle Mueller to come in and play his natural game.
He was a man possessed from ball one.
Mueller smashed three boundaries from his first eight balls, prompting McLay to mirror his slashing act as the pair accelerated the run-rate like no tomorrow.
The pair put on 107 runs for the second wicket, touching 200 team runs before Mueller’s innings came undone on 66 (10 fours, two sixes).
Then, a small win for Katandra arrived.
Billy and Charlie McLay were pulled apart before reaching double digits, and at 5-227, the Eagles were teasing the idea of inciting capitulation.
However, Fitzgerald plundered the final 17 runs beside the remaining McLay, who rounded out the day on 81 as the Redbacks clinched an upset and added a second loss to Katandra’s tally.
McLay, who initially opened the batting as a stop-gap on day one, was over the moon to spend 70 overs at the crease and play a stress-free innings thanks to his partners.
“I really enjoyed it; I went out as the night watchman the week before, so the plan was to try and hang around and bat for as long as I could,” he said.
“Paul Parsons got the scoring going, so I didn’t feel any pressure to have to put the foot down.
“Then Kyle came out, he puts pressure back on the opposition — Jedd Wright was looking pretty dangerous and Kyle took it upon himself to hit him out of the attack.
“It’s probably not his biggest knock for the year, but he well and truly put us within striking distance, so I thought he batted really well.”
Saturday’s win bumps Kyabram into eighth, only three points shy of a finals spot.
McLay stressed the magnitude of the previous fortnight’s efforts, while also hinting his side plays its best cricket with the red ball.
THE GAME
Katandra 243 (Sam Wright 66, Kieran Collins 59, Charlie McLay 5-68) lt Kyabram 6-252 (Jackson McLay 81, Kyle Mueller 66, Ray Ireland 2-24)
STAR PLAYER
Jackson McLay (Kyabram): For a night watchman to hit 81 at the top of the order, let alone win a game against the reigning champ while doing so, best afield merits have to go to McLay. A wicket in the first innings was the icing on the cake.
“We’re under no illusions we’ve got to keep winning, so we knew how important yesterday was,” he said.
“We obviously didn’t get off to a great start (to the season) which is disappointing, but with two-day cricket, we fancy ourselves in that format, so hopefully we can keep knocking over the wins and sneak into finals.
“And if we can do that, we’re pretty confident we’ll be able to do some damage.”