For the third successive season, a major premiership drought has been broken in the Haisman Shield grand final.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
After watching Old Students and then Katandra snare their first Cricket Shepparton A-grade flags in decades in the past two seasons, it was finally Numurkah’s time to shine.
The Blues outlasted the Eagles in an epic decider at Mooroopna Main Oval to stand atop the association’s highest dais for the first time since the 1973-74 season.
Shaun Downie proved the hero of the contest — and rightfully claimed the Greg Luscombe Medal for his efforts — by backing up his 98 from 207 deliveries on Saturday with 4-55 from almost 29 overs in yesterday’s thrilling climax to the match.
It was not only Downie who stood tall for the Blues though, with a number of contributors standing up to be counted when it mattered most.
After being sent in by the Eagles under heavy cloud cover following a slight rain delay on day one, Numurkah found itself stumbling at 2-23 when Corey Hickford removed Dylan Grandell and Josh Smith.
But Will Arnel (seven from 60 deliveries) dug in magnificently with Downie to help swing the momentum of the clash back in his side’s favour.
Michael Eckard (36), Liam Gledhill (40), Jahlan Lau (34) and Tim Braybon (23) all pitched in throughout the rest of the day to keep the Blues moving in the right direction, with the final wicket falling on the final ball of the day to have Katandra set 283 for victory.
Hickford’s 5-73 and Scott Richardson’s 3-67 helped restrict the Blues from reaching a much higher total, but the task ahead of the reigning premiers still proved too much in the end — despite threatening to go all the way once more.
Richardson (59 from 199 deliveries) and Jedd Wright (73 from 117) did all they could to swing the decider in Katandra’s favour after some great early fight from Ben Clurey (18 from 80), Luke Nolan (3-32) and Andrew Riordan (10 from 37), but the ever present aura of Numurkah’s spin weapons refused to be denied.
On a pitch offering little turn for Eckard (4-48), Downie (4-55) and Gledhill (0-40 from 18 overs) the trio held firm to eventually break the 100-run stand between Wright and Richardson and rout Katandra’s final six wickets for just 15 runs late in the day.
Matt Cline also chipped in with 2-20 to help dismiss Katandra’s top order, while Josh Smith made up for an early mistake behind the stumps to engineer a pair of sublime stumpings from the bowling of Eckard.
But it was as Tim Arnel moved under a skied ball from Ryleigh Shannon in the 89th over of proceedings yesterday that generations of Numurkah cricketers around the ground and watching from home felt their hearts skip a beat.
When the ball stuck in the fiery speedster’s hands his team exploded into a ball of emotion, swarming him in the outfield and kick-starting celebrations that will surely rival the standard of the grand final itself after 45 years of collective toil and heartbreak.
For the third successive season, a major premiership drought has been broken in the Haisman Shield grand final.
After watching Old Students and then Katandra snare their first Cricket Shepparton A-grade flags in decades in the past two seasons, it was finally Numurkah’s time to shine.
The Blues outlasted the Eagles in an epic decider at Mooroopna Main Oval to stand atop the association’s highest dais for the first time since the 1973-74 season.
Shaun Downie proved the hero of the contest — and rightfully claimed the Greg Luscombe Medal for his efforts — by backing up his 98 from 207 deliveries on Saturday with 4-55 from almost 29 overs in yesterday’s thrilling climax to the match.
It was not only Downie who stood tall for the Blues though, with a number of contributors standing up to be counted when it mattered most.
After being sent in by the Eagles under heavy cloud cover following a slight rain delay on day one, Numurkah found itself stumbling at 2-23 when Corey Hickford removed Dylan Grandell and Josh Smith.
But Will Arnel (seven from 60 deliveries) dug in magnificently with Downie to help swing the momentum of the clash back in his side’s favour.
Michael Eckard (36), Liam Gledhill (40), Jahlan Lau (34) and Tim Braybon (23) all pitched in throughout the rest of the day to keep the Blues moving in the right direction, with the final wicket falling on the final ball of the day to have Katandra set 283 for victory.
Hickford’s 5-73 and Scott Richardson’s 3-67 helped restrict the Blues from reaching a much higher total, but the task ahead of the reigning premiers still proved too much in the end — despite threatening to go all the way once more.
Richardson (59 from 199 deliveries) and Jedd Wright (73 from 117) did all they could to swing the decider in Katandra’s favour after some great early fight from Ben Clurey (18 from 80), Luke Nolan (3-32) and Andrew Riordan (10 from 37), but the ever present aura of Numurkah’s spin weapons refused to be denied.
On a pitch offering little turn for Eckard (4-48), Downie (4-55) and Gledhill (0-40 from 18 overs) the trio held firm to eventually break the 100-run stand between Wright and Richardson and rout Katandra’s final six wickets for just 15 runs late in the day.
Matt Cline also chipped in with 2-20 to help dismiss Katandra’s top order, while Josh Smith made up for an early mistake behind the stumps to engineer a pair of sublime stumpings from the bowling of Eckard.
But it was as Tim Arnel moved under a skied ball from Ryleigh Shannon in the 89th over of proceedings yesterday that generations of Numurkah cricketers around the ground and watching from home felt their hearts skip a beat.
When the ball stuck in the fiery speedster’s hands his team exploded into a ball of emotion, swarming him in the outfield and kick-starting celebrations that will surely rival the standard of the grand final itself after 45 years of collective toil and heartbreak.
Shepparton News editor