Saturday Sundries are all the extra highlights from the weekend’s lower grade cricket — from the top run-scorer to the best bowling figures and anything else of interest from the district grounds.
To make sure we don’t miss any classic moments, why not message Shepparton News Sport on social media or email us at sport@sheppnews.com.au
Below are some of the highlights from Saturday’s action you may have missed.
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Through the motions: Central Park-St Brendan’s Sam Holland. Photo by Megan FisherImage 2 of 7
Keep ‘em out: Northerners’ Bayden Hutchins. Photo by Megan FisherImage 3 of 7
Watching and waiting: Northerners’ Garrick Rogers. Photo by Megan FisherImage 4 of 7
Down low: Central Park-St Brendan’s wicket keeper Harrison Baker. Photo by Megan FisherImage 5 of 7
Game plan: Northerners batters Garrick Rogers and Bayden Hutchins. Photo by Megan FisherImage 6 of 7
Open the shoulders: Northerners’ Garrick Rogers. Photo by Megan FisherImage 7 of 7
In his clutches: Central Park-St Brendan’s Sam Holland. Photo by Megan FisherNews photographer Megan Fisher snapped shots from the B-grade contest between Central Park-St Brendan’s and Northerners.
False start
With a smattering of games washed out in the opening weekend of the 2023-24 Cricket Shepparton season, only a few sides got to kick off their Clyde Young Shield campaigns on Saturday.
It came with an eerie sense of deja vu attached.
In October 2022 the Goulburn Valley was ravaged by flooding which scratched the season’s opening month and the timing of last week’s heavy rains could not have been worse.
However, there don’t seem to be any freak storms forecast for the foreseeable future, so the punters can breathe a sigh of relief with lower grades set to get under way this weekend.
Easy Tiger
How do you lure a side into a false sense of hope?
Ask Central Park-St Brendan’s’ B-grade outfit, as the Tigers did exactly that in their eight-wicket rolling of Northerners at home on Saturday.
After bowling out the Jets for a well-below-par 58, the hosts provided their opponents with a sniff before whipping the rug from beneath them in the blink of an eye.
At one moment, the Tigers were 2-1.
The next, they were sipping on the celebratory sauce bottle as Sam Holland and Andrew McMillan hit swift unbeaten knocks of 29 and 22 not out respectively to kill the game in 12 overs.
Emmi-winning performance
Mooroopna’s convincing beating of Euroa mirrored Central Park’s demo job on Northerners.
However, one man’s figures stood out especially for Mooroopna.
While he let others whisk through Euroa’s top order Daniel Emmi made absolute mince meat of the Magpies’ lower bats as he stole the limelight with figures of 5-21 off nine overs.
Fine with the pine
While the first two matches wrapped up early, B-grade’s third and final game went the distance.
Pine Lodge scored a 31-run win over Karramomus, posting 163 before bowling out the Bloods for 132 at Vibert Reserve.
But it may not have been the case if not for Lodgers’ second drop James Nugent.
With only four of the visitors venturing into double digits, Nugent’s swashbuckling knock of 64 was the catalyst behind the victory and was the second-highest score of any player on Saturday behind Waaia import Reinhardt Engler in A-grade (68 runs).