The Cats’ top order couldn’t handle the heat against a plethora of in-form Tatura bowlers, and although Mooroopna entered the Haisman Shield match well-backed, it seemed its one-day form was not going to translate with the red pill.
Wickets dropped like flies.
However many wickets Tatura had claimed, add a zero onto the figure and you’d have thereabouts Mooroopna’s score.
1-18, 2-26, 3-46, 4-46, 5-58, 6-61.
The Cats had no answers.
Sai Rajiv Gudavalli would make a defiant appearance, scoring 25 off 51, but he too would fall, followed shortly by Jack Gaskill, leaving Mooroopna scrambling at 8-96.
The bowling fortune was praised by Tatura coach Daniel Coombs, who’s side has yet to bowl out a club since round two.
“I thought we bowled really well, Tanner Miller at the age of 16 took a couple wickets,” Tatura coach Daniel Coombs said.
“It was nipping around a little bit but it took the edge quite a lot and we took our catches.”
A defendable target looked unimaginable, but, coach Henry Barrow had other ideas.
While number 10 batter Corey Meyer played a straight bat or rotated the strike, number nine bat Barrow was out with an aggressive mindset.
Scoring at a faster clip than all but two of his teammates, Barrow picked gaps for multiple runs between the wickets, as well as punishing poor balls to the rope.
However, Barrow’s soon to be match-saving innings could’ve ended far sooner.
At 8-110, Barrow was dropped, and the Cats coach ensured he punished the at-fault fielder.
When Meyer fell, the Cats had reached 130, but Josh Preston continued Meyer’s role flawlessly to allow Barrow to continue pressing on.
A single would see Barrow raise the bat to his Mooroopna men, received by cheers of a revived outfit, which now sat 71 runs further ahead than when the eighth wicket dropped.
Preston would fall two balls later, and while the target set was still below par, some belief filtered through the Cats playing group.
That esteem grew even more so when Tatura’s Bailey Archer’s wicket was taken with the third ball, by none other than Barrow himself.
However, Tatura coach Coombs had witnessed Barrow’s feat as a leader, and as he walked to the crease at first drop, he may as well have said “hold my beer”.
While remaining opener Joshua Macansh gradually ticked over his score to 15 off 43 by the end of day’s play, Coombs raced away to 38 off 50 balls, including eight shots to the Howley Oval fence.
It sets up Tatura positively for day two, trailing by 105 runs but with nine wickets still in hand.
“The first hour will be pretty challenging, they’ve got a good bowling attack and we expect the ball to nip around a bit again,” Coombs said.
“But the field is like lightning once it passes the infield, so if you’re patient enough there’s value for shots there.
“A good partnership with Josh in the first hour will set us up nicely hopefully.”
THE GAME
Tatura 1-62 (Daniel Coombs 38 not out, Joshua Macanash 15 not out, Henry Barrow 1-18) trail Mooroopna 10-167 (Henry Barrow 50 not out, Sai Rajiv Gudavalli 25, Baxter Plunkett 3-16)
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