Saturday saw the Blues punch their ticket to the Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield finals series by beating Old Students by 51 runs, ending a sour run of consecutive seasons missing out on the pointy end by three points or less.
Numurkah prevailed with the ball on Saturday, successfully defending its monster total of 9-251 posted on day one to push into fourth with one round remaining.
Victorious captain Matt Cline was chuffed with the result, labelling it “one of our better all round performances for the year”.
“The way the boys batted up the top of the order batted last week with Dusty (Ebborn) and Rags (Aravinthan), they did really well and got a good platform set for us,” he said.
“Our middle order didn’t really fire but credit to the tail end - for the last wicket the boys put on about 30 runs which got us to a total of 250 which was really pleasing.
“We thought anything 250-plus was really defendable, especially considering the other scores on that ground this season.
“It was a pretty good all round bowling performance capped by our spinners again with Ragsy, Mitch and Ky doing what they’ve done all year.”
Off the back of some sharp top order batting from Raguvaran Aravinthan (79) and Dustan Ebborn (63) the week prior, Numurkah got off to a steady start with the red ball.
Students tread carefully, making it through the first 14 overs unscathed - but the run rate was ticking over at a snail’s pace, and the Blues were about to strike.
Maninderjit Singh snicked off to slip for 12 off Connor McLeod’s bowling, and the Blues’ quick would snare Andre Gagliardi for cheap just four overs later.
Students needed an anchor.
And for a time, Hayden Kruse was it.
The opener forged a sturdy partnership with Oscar Lambourn, knocking the ball around for smart ones and twos as the hosts began to finally engineer some momentum.
But once the pair were dismissed and Students were languishing at 4-77 off 36 overs, Numurkah well and truly had the power.
Sam O’Brien then entered the fold and chimed in with a well made 52, supported by Rehan Bari (22) and Ed Pike (24), but as the day stretched on, Students simply ran out of time and available batters.
The Kialla dwellers finished the day on 200, with Blues’ spinners Aravinthan (3-31) and Mitch Grandell 2-65 impressing alongside McLeod, who got a special mention from Cline.
“It was also good to see Connor McLeod get some overs in and get some reward for effort,” he said.
“He’s probably not had the opportunity he would’ve liked this year, so it was great for him to get a couple of wickets.”
While Cline admitted there are still kinks to be ironed out, the re-entrance to finals marks a significant milestone checked off by Numurkah.
“Half our team hasn’t played a final in A-grade; we’ve got a couple of premiership players there, but there’s a lot of blokes in our team who haven’t had that experience in finals, so it’s exciting for these boys,” he said.
“The hunger to play finals has always been there, but it’s really pleasing for the boys to be able to experience that.
“We don’t just want to make up the numbers in finals - we want to compete and go as far as we can.
“That starts by continuing our momentum against Central Park next week ... it’s going to be a tough challenge but we’ll be up for the fight.”
THE GAME
Numurkah 9-251 (Raguvaran Aravinthan 79, Dustan Ebborn 63, Felix Odell 4-54) def Old Students 200 ( Sam O’Brien 52, Hayden Kruse 37, Raguvaran Aravinthan 3-31)
STAR PLAYER
Raguvaran Aravinthan (Numurkah): This was another Rags to riches tale. Numurkah’s star import put on an all-round masterclass against Students, producing game-high batting and bowling figures.
23°C