Nagambie rips through SYCU in record time for a nine-wicket Haisman Shield win on the road

All in all, it was a 51-over demo job in round three of Cricket Shepparton’s Haisman Shield and playing coach Zac Winter-Irving was rapt to check off a complete performance.

“Three rounds in and we probably haven’t put a complete effort in for a whole game across the three aspects, so yesterday we ticked all three of them off,” he said.

“On the bowling side of things, it was really good by the young fellas – they stood up – and for Brayden Biggs to get a few at the end was really important. Flynny Bush was handy and young Ryan Ezard (was too).

“Chasing a low total, but to get them one down and be convincing, that’s a standard we set that if we’re fair dinkum, that’s what we should be doing.

“We probably didn’t think we were going to get done that quick, but a couple of the boys got off to a flyer. It was handy to pick up the win and (it was) pretty convincing.”

Nagambie won the toss and elected to bowl – and after that, the Lakers just kept on winning.

SYCU openers Jake Callow and Tyler Green saw out the first seven overs unscathed, but when the former was caught out for nine off Mitch Winter-Irving’s bowling, the first domino had fallen.

Green was next to go, cleaned up by Ryan Ezard after making a valiant 18-run stand.

It was here that Nagambie smelled blood.

The Lakers tightened the screws until the thread was through, slowing the run rate to a crawl before knocking down Sebastian Menzhausen, Oliver Swain and Cooper Adkins within the space of seven balls – the latter pair walking without troubling the scorers.

SYCU dug its heels in and was able to stop the rot thanks to Keegan Armstrong (21 runs) and Shobhit Sabharwal, whose 34 off 36 drew the combine closer to posting a defendable score.

But as the old adage goes in cricket, one brings two.

And in Nagambie’s case, it was more like four.

Sabharwal was trapped leg before wicket by Flynn Bush in the 29th over and, less than 10 overs later, the innings was done as SYCU lost 4-16 to slump all out for 118.

Brayden Biggs ended with a bang, cleaning up the host’s tail with two wickets in two balls to get himself on a hat-trick for the next game while finishing with figures of 3-20, the Lakers’ second best behind Bush (3-17).

If Nagambie’s bowling was deadly, its batting was down right devastating.

James Wilson was the only casualty on the way to a nine-wicket win, falling victim to Sabharwal as he departed for a globe while his opening partner Tom Barnes used the rest of the innings as batting practice.

He carried his bat with a buccaneering 77 not out off 34 balls, plundering 11 boundaries and two maximums, while Winter-Irving held up the other end with 35 runs off 34 balls to land the Lakers their second win of the season.

“He (Barnes) has got the ability to do it; I think we’ve got the commitment out of him this year,” Winter-Irving said.

“He’s got a role up the top order and if he sets his mind to it he’s definitely got the ability to make a stack of runs, so that’s what we’re hoping for.”

The win bumps Nagambie up into third while condemning SYCU to bottom spot and with Sam Nash’s side taking on a 2-1 Kyabram side in round four, it’ll have to dig deep into its bag to produce a result against the Redbacks.

Meanwhile, Nagambie faces a sturdy Tatura outfit, hoping to nudge closer to pole position before two-day cricket commences.

Winter-Irving was buoyed by the performances of his young bowlers, particularly Bush and Ezard, meaning the future at the Lakers is looking brighter than ever.

“We’ve had plenty of junior teams for the last x amount of years, but they’re starting to come through,” he said.

“Those 15, 16 17-year-olds that have played a couple of years of B-grade are now getting the opportunity to cement a spot in A-grade.

“For some of the older fellas, it’s pretty exciting to see them come through – a bit of youth, that’s what you rely on, so things are looking good.”