Sport

Cricket Shepparton’s Lightfoot Medal frontrunners eye top gong

By Josh Huntly

Mar 18, 2026

Tyler Larkin speeds across the pitch. Photo by Megan Fisher

Cricket Shepparton’s night of nights is upon us, with the 2025/26 season award winners set to be recognised at Monday evening’s ceremony at the GV Hotel.

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The league presentation night will see the competition’s top individuals and teams acknowledged, while the Haisman’s Shield’s will claim the Lightfoot Medal, joining a pantheon of stars in clinching the highest individual league honour.

The top-grade vote count is always a highly anticipated one - and it’s an even field vying for ‘Bert’ this year.

So, who is in the running?

Numurkah put the heartbreak of back-to-back finals misses behind it this season to qualify for March action, and front and centre with both bat and ball was all-rounder Raguvaran Aravinthan with 436 runs and 20 wickets.

Averaging more than 40 with the bat and less than 15 with the ball is good going and presents him as one of the frontrunners in an award that has at times favoured all-round brilliance.

But the Blues’ talisman will have some stiff competition at the top of the vote count.

Last year’s medallist Kyle Mueller will vie to become the first back-to-back winner of the award since Ben Reece, and while the ‘Wiz’ hasn’t tallied quite as many runs as past seasons, he still boasts a home-and-away record of 499 runs at an average of 50.

Mueller’s imposing presence and skill set saw him raise the bat on five occasions, and the left-hander has dug out some important knocks that will invite a steady flow of votes.

However, Central Park-St Brendan skipper Tyler Larkin will also give the vote count a fair shake after topping the Haisman Shield run-scoring with 523, the only batter to pass that mark during the regular rounds.

The only issue for Larkin will be the votes stolen from within his own camp.

Evergreen seamer Ramadan Yze’s 33 wickets – coming at a handsome average of just 13 – will also have him squarely in contention, while Waaia import Brandon Diplock’s 30-wicket, 195-run season, paired with his influence in the Bombers’ resurgence from near finals miss to the brink of a grand final will weigh positively in his favour.

Don’t be surprised if Karramomus pace ace Lachie Keady, Kyabram contemporary’s Sam Langley and Jackson McLay, Nagambie all-rounder Mitch Winter-Irving, and Tatura talisman Blake Armstrong also poll well in what shapes as one of the liveliest vote counts in recent times.