Aravinthan claims Cricket Shepparton’s Lightfoot Medal

Aravinthan capped a stunning year by claiming Cricket Shepparton’s Lightfoot Medal, beating Kyabram’s Kyle Mueller to the line in a thrilling vote count.

Aravinthan polled 15 votes to claim ‘Bert’ on Monday evening, pipping reigning medallist Mueller by two votes to become the first Numurkah player to win the Haisman Shield’s top individual honour in five years.

After joining the Blues in 2023, the star English all-rounder’s third season has proved his finest yet, propelling Numurkah back to finals on the back of his 436 runs and 20 wickets, raising the bat four times for a top score of 98 and averaging less than 14 with his spin.

Aravinthan now stands atop the Haisman Shield hierarchy, but Kyabram’s star left-hander wasn’t far behind.

Mueller ran a close runner-up with 13 votes and is one of the key reason’s the Redbacks’ are returning to Cricket Shepparton’s biggest stage.

Mueller has hit almost 600 runs in the Haisman Shield, but factoring in his T20 and representative runs is eyeing off a crossing of the 1000-run Rubicon in this weekend’s grand final against Waaia, needing 41 more.

Meanwhile, the third step on the podium was shared between a seasoned Katandra campaigner and a tearaway Karramomus quick.

Eagles star Corey Hickford made a dash for the medal on the back of his work with the willow and the Kookaburra, hitting 403 runs and claiming 28 wickets to finish with 12 votes.

The Keady name was high on the Lightfoot leaderboard once more with Bloods paceman Lachie also finishing with 12 votes.

Keady claimed 39 wickets with best figures of 6-22, and was no slouch with the bat either, crafting more than 200 runs.

Underscoring the even nature of the field, five players tied equal-fourth on 10 votes, including Waaia teammates Brandon Diplock and Jordan Cleeland, Central Park-St Brendan’s batters Jack McCarten and Tyler Larkin, and Kyabram paceman Sam Langley.

More on Cricket Shepparton’s award winners to come.