Supporters lining Kialla Park Recreation Reserve were forced to duck for cover last Thursday night when two Cricket Shepparton C-grade Twenty20 talents produced stunning knocks.
Striking a combined total of 24 sixes, Shepparton United’s Ian Maiden and Old Students’ Jayden Gagliardi put on a clinic with the bat, forcing those parked within striking distance to reconsider their choices.
For Maiden, a whopping 15 sixes and eight fours had the talent post 135 not out off 51 balls, while in the first innings Gagliardi hit nine balls for six and seven balls for four on his way to 100 off 41.
Reflecting on the incredible innings, Maiden said the longer he stayed in the better he saw the ball.
“I came in pretty early, I think it was the second ball and we were chasing a pretty big score, so I sort of wanted to stick around a little bit and keep myself in,” Maiden said.
“To be honest I didn’t even think about it (the 100), they clapped my 50 and then next thing you know it I was into the 100 and it just sort of came up.”
His first career century, Maiden — who is from Albury — said it was his second game for the club.
“I’ve been high up there in the 90s before, but always ran out of overs or whatever, but that first one, it was kind of different,” he said.
“Two centuries in a game, you don’t see that too often.”
Equally as impressive as Maiden’s knock was Gagliardi’s first innings ton.
Saying a hard wicket helped the ball pitch up and bounce, the Old Students talent said it was all about keeping focused.
“You’ve got to be watching the ball pretty well,“ Gagliardi said.
“I was just trying to get the side through to the next round of the knockout tournament and was just seeing it very well and staying concentrated.”
Like Maiden, Gagliardi was unaware he was closing in on a century.
“We had a wicket fall when I was on 98 and I didn’t know what I was on, but I asked one of the lads that came out,” he said.
“I said ‘you’ve got to tell me what I’m on’ and he goes ‘are you sure you want to know’ and I said ‘yeah’ and he said ‘98’ and I went for the big one and I thought I was going to go for a six to finish it off, but I got two singles.
“Then I went for the big one and nicked straight through to the keeper (on 100).”
Full of praise for his opponent’s hitting, Gagliardi labelled Maiden ‘‘immaculate’’ with the bat in hand.
“He didn’t give us any chances apart from one, I actually dropped him, I think it was very early on,” he said.
“I dropped him on nearly 10 I think, but he didn’t give us any chances and we didn’t even bowl that bad, he just smacked everything pretty much and just made it look easy, no bad shots, just played good cricket really, he’s just a good player.”
While United would claim victory with six wickets in hand Maiden’s and Gagliardi’s innings deservedly stole the headlines.