Leading by 119 runs heading into day two of its Haisman Shield clash with Katandra, Kyabram still had nine poles to claim to avoid a disastrous loss.
A total of 156 made with the bat, coach Jackson McLay reiterated that the Redbacks were far from happy with their target set, but with the bowling fire power at their disposal, knew a win was still on the cards.
Kyabram has arguably the most in-form bowlers in the Haisman Shield this season - in four matches this month, Kyabram has claimed all 10 opposition wickets in three, while taking nine in the other.
“We were quietly confident,” McLay said.
So as Katandra sat well-placed at 1-37, the tide began to shift at 2-49.
Twenty four maidens throughout the innings built scoreboard pressure for Katandra, which just couldn’t seem to pick gaps, leading to errant shots with the bat to try and force a scoring shot, but ultimately only resulted in the Eagles’ batting demise.
And as the saying goes, one brings two - although for Kyabram, one brings a few.
The Eagles suffered a game altering batting collapse to go from 1-49 to 6-66, firmly placing the win back in Kyabram’s grasp.
A three-man bowling attack worked wonders as the trio built bowling partnerships that created rising pressure for Katandra’s men with the willow, with Samuel Langley (four wickets), Jackson McLay (three) and Charlie McLay (three) producing all the false shots.
Only six overs for the 55-over innings were not bowled by either three, as the Eagles were bowled out 70 runs short of their total for 86, going at a snail’s pace run rate of 1.56 an over.
McLay was proud of the bowling attack’s ability to consistently front up when the batting display has been weaker than expected.
“It wasn’t going to just happen from ball one, but that’s the way it’s been this year, where we have two or three good balls to get wickets and it puts teams under pressure,” he said.
“That (first wicket of day two) put them under pressure and we felt we were on top by then, so we said ‘let’s put our foot on the throat and go for the kill’.”
Kyabram face Pine Lodge next week, which is still yet to win a game this season, but McLay knows there are no easy games, and that the Redbacks’ bowling prowess must continue against a sneakily strong top Pine Lodge order.
“There’s no easy games and we’ll obviously be looking for an improvement with the bat - you’re not going to win too man games with displays like that,” McLay said.
“But our bowling’s been exceptional, the last three weeks we’ve been performing nicely and gelling well, and we know Pine Lodge have some handy bats up the top, so it’s never an easy match.”
Meanwhile, Katandra will need to defeat Waaia in round seven if it is to start overcoming its 1-5 start to the season.
THE GAME
Kyabram 156 (Cade Mueller 52, Alec Young 32, Joel Beaumont 4-32) def Katandra 86 (Talon Wilson 29, Ben Pedretti 19, Samuel Langley 4-34)
STAR PLAYER:
Samuel Langley (Kyabram): The Redbacks pacer sent the top four of the Eagles order packing, beginning Katandra’s slippery slope to collapse.
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