Sport
Notre Dame-St Brendan's wallops Northerners to clinch Cricket Shepparton under-14A grand final
Cricket Shepparton’s junior finals are all wrapped up with a ribbon on top — but the under-14A two-day decider was indeed the gift that kept on giving.
Notre Dame-St Brendan’s displayed flashes of brilliance during its flag-winning outing against Northerners, claiming the grand prize at Deakin Reserve on Wednesday night.
It was ‘hot knife through butter’ stuff to get the job done on a short and sharp second day.
After posting a whopping 8-211 with the bat, the Tigers levelled Notherners’ order to finish the game 28.4 overs shy of its completion as the Jets were rolled for 25.
Despite an all-singing, all-dancing display with bat and ball, Notre Dame-St Brendan’s coach David Keenan eluded to the third fundamental as key to securing the title.
“It was good to get runs on the board — that’s probably an old saying everyone says — but in under-14s to get over 200, I thought it was going to take a pretty good effort to roll us,” he said.
“And I think over the two finals, we only bowled two wides in both bowling innings, so that was extremely good.
“But our fielding, that was the main thing. No matter what runs were on the board, the boys believed they could win it from anywhere because we pride ourselves on our fielding and bowling.
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Let’s get it going: Notre Dame-St Brendan's wicket keeper Clancy Keenan. Photo by Megan FisherImage 2 of 7
Whipped away fine: Northerners’ batter Jimmy Blekic. Photo by Megan FisherImage 3 of 7
Watch it in: Notre Dame-St Brendan's fielder Aston Campbell. Photo by Megan FisherImage 4 of 7
Wield the blade: Northerners’ Charlie Matheson. Photo by Megan FisherImage 5 of 7
Ryder’s on the storm: Notre Dame-St Brendan's Ryder Dudgeon. Photo by Megan FisherImage 6 of 7
Sol train: Notre Dame-St Brendan's bowler Sol Zak. Photo by Megan FisherImage 7 of 7
Chewing the fat: Northerners batters Tait Buckland and Charlie Matheson. Photo by Megan Fisher“We certainly didn’t expect to win that comprehensively, but it was a good effort and just consistency all year, they really deserved it.”
The Tigers’ under-14A contingent, made up of many of the club’s 2022 under-12A premiership side, went out with a hiss and a roar after winning the toss.
Gus Byrne minced 14 fours on the way to 82 before retiring not out, while Nate Yze (58 not out) held down the fort, and Clancy Keenan (22) and Austen Hogeboom (19) completed the Tigers’ top four showing.
The fearsome foursome powered the hosts close to 200, though the likes of Ty Davidson (3-20), Kai Thorn (2-24) and Tait Buckland (2-27) put a halt to the scoring frenzy near the death.
What came next was fairytale material for Notre Dame-St Brendan’s.
The Tigers’ bowlers peeled through batter after batter with not a single Jet venturing into double digits and Byrne was at his damaging best with 4-2 to put the best-afield merit beyond doubt.
Ryder Dudgeon was sizzling too, picking up 3-7.
With 85 per cent of the squad moving into the under-16A grade next season, a potential dynasty is brewing at Deakin Reserve, and after the under-14A side went the whole season undefeated, Keenan was quick to ensure the youngsters stay grounded.
“I think part of it is not just about skill, it’s about keeping them humble when they win and they go down,’’ he said.
“I suppose this year they didn’t go down, but just to keep them level headed at that age and let them know you’ve got to work hard to get to that position.
“You don’t always turn it on in the big games, but they did, so I couldn’t have been prouder.”