Numurkah’s Kyren Dawson celebrates his catch with teammates against Pine Lodge.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Numurkah reminded the competition of its class on Saturday, sweeping aside Pine Lodge with a dominant nine-wicket victory to square its ledger at 2-2 after four rounds of Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield action.
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The Blues, who had shown glimpses of their best in recent weeks, finally clicked across all facets — with the bowlers setting the tone early and import Darren Butler lighting up the chase in vintage fashion.
All in all, new Numurkah captain Matt Cline was elated to see his side knock together what he labelled a “good all round performance”.
“I thought it was the best we’ve bowled and fielded as a team unit all year,” he said.
“We bowled quite tight and hit our line and lengths which is something we haven’t really done on a consistent 45 over basis throughout the year.
Numurkah’s Kyren Dawson took two wickets against Pine Lodge.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
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Pine Lodge batter Dylan Hardy sees the ball skid past the bat.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
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Numurkah’s Darren Butler had an explosive cameo with bat in hand.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
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Pine Lodge’s Steve Van Taarling thinks about a quick single.
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Megan Fisher
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Numurkah skipper Matt Cline was chuffed with his side’s effort.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
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Pine Lodge’s Dylan Hardy made a gritty 57 not out against Numurkah.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
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Numurkah’s Mitch Grandell made an impact with the ball.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
“It’s nice to consolidate with the bowling attack, knuckle down and be able to tie a team down to a low score which made it nice and easy for the batsman as well.”
Batting first, Pine Lodge struggled to get anything going beyond its top order.
English import Dylan Hardy provided the only real resistance, arriving at first drop and seeing it through to the end for a gritty 57 not out, while opener Hayden Cann (14) was the only other Lodger to reach double figures.
The rest fell in a heap as Numurkah’s bowlers shared the spoils.
Cline rotated his attack smartly, and each of his six options delivered to maintain relentless pressure from both ends.
Kyren Dawson continued his superb form with 2-20, while Mitch Grandell and Connor McLeod matched him with two wickets apiece to roll Pine Lodge for just 91.
With the game effectively sewn up at the halfway mark, the Blues’ batters wasted no time turning dominance into points.
After a lean start to the season, Butler burst into life by punishing anything loose with a flurry of boundaries in an explosive 42 off just 16 balls.
Though he was caught looking for another big shot, Butler’s cameo had already done the damage - and from there, Matt Price (19 not out) and Raguvaran Aravinthan (26 not out) polished off the remaining runs with minimal fuss to guide the Blues home in just 12.1 overs.
“Buttsy is a class act, we’ve seen in the nets what he can do,” Cline said.
“As most overseas (players) find out when they come over here, it doesn’t matter what standard you’ve played, it’s always a little bit tricky to adjust to the conditions over here and he’s had a few weeks now.
“It was disappointing the way he went out and he’s disappointed as well - he would’ve loved to have got a 60-odd not out and hit the winning runs for us.
“But those sorts of small chases can be a little bit difficult at times, you can go in your shell, so it was good the way he came out and took the game away from them nice and early, it gave us confidence to get the job done quickly.”
It was exactly the kind of response Numurkah needed after some frustrating near misses earlier in the campaign against Waaia and Kyabram.
“The camaraderie is good at the moment, everyone’s on the same page and know what we’re building towards,” Cline said.
“The game against Waaia could’ve easily gone in our favour, we just didn’t take the big chances in the big moments.
“We could easily be 3-1 but we’re 2-2 heading into Karra this week who are absolutely flying.
“We take the momentum we’ve built over the last couple of weeks and hopefully we can continue on - we know if we play our best cricket on our day, we can beat anyone.”
THE GAME
Pine Lodge 91 (Dylan Hardy 57 not out, Hayden Cann 14, Connor McLeod 2-14) def by Numurkah 1-92 (Darren Butler 42, Raguvaran Aravinthan 26 not out, Darshana Prasad Loku Hettige 1-29)
STAR PLAYER
Darren Butler (Numurkah): After arriving with an impressive cricketing CV, Saturday finally gave a glimpse of what Butler is capable of. An explosive 42 as well as a wicket was a good confidence booster for the South African.
