After being inside the top six all summer, Tatura won’t be a part of the post-season action, following a brutal final round blow in Cricket Shepparton’s Haisman Shield.
Tatura was already heading into day two of round 11 with minimal optimisim - set a target of 251 by Kyabram and already two wickets down after a short stint at the crease on day one - but cricket is a sport where anything can happen, and the deep batting order of Tatura had proven resilient before.
However, against the one-day premiers, it was a task too tall for last year’s finalists as Kyabram committed to a relentless “foot on the throat” approach.
“Going into day two we spoke about that relentlessness, making sure we’re firing heading into finals,” Kyabram coach Jackson McLay said.
“We didn’t want to just be going through the motions, we wanted to be full throttle, foot on the throat, and even though we only used three bowlers yesterday I felt they all did that.”
As Samuel Langley, Charlie McLay and Louis Sabbagh-Holt got crafty with the pill, opener Lachlan Magee put in the hard yards as the Tatura upper order found their footing at the crease.
However, Magee’s staunch effort produced only 19 while coach Daniel Coombs (three off 35) failed to knock a match-winning display also.
The pair fell on their swords of willow within a couple overs of one another, enhancing the difficulty of the run chase, as Kyabram’s Langley and McLay wounded Tatura to 4-25.
Kiran Green and Blake Armstrong would offer partial resistance, netting a 32-run partnership before Armstrong nicked off a Louis Sabbagh-Holt delivery for nine.
Sabbagh-Holt would spin his web through Green’s gate six overs later, where an additional seven runs had been tallied to the score sheet, once again heaving pressure on a lower order fight from Tatura as its scoreline read 6-64.
Skipper Jayden Armstrong levelled Green’s output of 24, backing up his four-wicket haul on day one that reaped praise from the Bombers coach.
However, Langley ensured Kyabram saw the back of the captain, while it was Sabbagh-Holt who continued to dizzy the tail, claiming figures of 4-34 by the time Tatura was bowled out for 120.
The 130-run loss, and Waaia’s win, has ended Tatura’s Haisman Shield campaign, sliding to seventh to miss finals this season.
It wasn’t for a lack of trying though, with McLay stating the Bombers felt Tatura had done everything in their power to give their final hopes some life.
“Tatura definitely threw the kitchen sink at us,” McLay said.
“Jayden (Armstrong) probably just lacked a bit of extra help behind him and it might’ve been a bit closer.”
Kyabram face 2024-25 runners-up Nagambie next Saturday and Sunday in the first week of finals, with the Bombers securing a tight seven-run victory the last time they met in round nine.
The close encounter has McLay warning that all teams in this year’s finals series will pose a threat to the flag.
“Everyone I’ve seemed to talk to about finals say anyone in the top six is capable of winning... there’s no making up the numbers,” he said.
“Nagambie is a class side and they finished six so that in itself says a lot.
“I’m expecting another close encounter, it’s gonna be a hell of a contest.
“This is the real stuff now, this is what we play for.”
THE GAME
Kyabram 250 (Jackson McLay 50, Lukas Hanslow 47, Jayden Armstrong 4-76) def. Tatura 120 (Kiran Green 24, Jayden Armstrong 24, Louis Sabbagh-Holt 4-34)
STAR PLAYER:
Jackson McLay (Kyabram): Hard to pick out of Jackson and Charlie McLay, but while the former didn’t bowl on day two, he still picked up 2-3 and scored a fifty on day one in a match-winning effort as coach.
25°C