Cricket Shepparton announces its squad for Bendigo District Cricket Association challenge

Back in November, Bendigo came to Deakin Reserve and pinched the home leg by five wickets.

This time, Cricket Shepparton is out to level the score.

The team boasts a total of six changes since the last meeting, with firepower in the form of Mooroopna skipper Henry Barrow, Central Park-St Brendan’s gun Connor Hayes and Karramomus opener Mitch McGrath loaded into the armoury.

And while there’s no points on offer, organiser Paul Trevaskis explained there are tentative plans about a broader series with other associations, perhaps even a modern echo of the old McPherson Shield.

“It’s a bit of a one-off - we’ve been trying to get a few of the other associations up and running,” he said.

“The GMC played Murray Valley the same day we played last time but at the time they were only prepared to play one game for this year.

“But hopefully next year we can get a four league series going where everyone plays each other once and have a final or something along those lines; that’s the grand plan.

“There used to be something called the McPherson Shield back in the day and we might try to get something similar to that going if possible.”

Sunday’s match will be the third iteration of its kind in the post COVID-era between Cricket Shepparton and the BDCA.

The first of which was played on January 19 2025 - which Bendigo stole by two wickets - and it all stemmed from a conversation at Lightfoot Medal night a few years ago.

“I guess this whole started as being player-driven,” Trevaskis said.

“Tyler (Larkin), Jesse Trower and Kyle Mueller kind of bailed me up at a league presentation night a few years ago to try get something up and going.

“That’s where last year’s Bendigo game started.

“In conjunction with Northern Rivers, we’ve been trying to get something bigger going, but there’ll be a bit of conversation going on on Sunday to see if we can get that to work.”

Funnily enough, that same trio have recently returned from WA after helping Victoria to a second placed finish at the Australian Country Cricket Championships.

While Trower is the sole Vic Country man to represent Cricket Shepparton this weekend, this much is certain: our boys don’t want to lose another one.

“It’s not spiteful or anything, but our guys aren’t happy with losing a couple of times, that’s for sure,” Tresvaskis said.

“Tyler, Jesse and Kyle have got back from WA and they played with a couple of them (Bendigo players), and with the Bush Bash we had going on there was a bit of cross pollination.

“They’re all competitive and no one likes to come second.”