Those three aspects changed Numurkah’s fortunes from a nightmare start to a successful rescue mission, as the Blues reversed an agonising defeat to Waaia the week prior to a remarkable comeback in Cricket Shepparton’s Haisman Shield.
Hosting Katandra, the pressure was on a winless Blues outfit on Saturday.
Two rounds in without a win, Numurkah’s season needed a circuit breaker.
And after posting a slightly below par 8-177, and Katandra cruising at 0-102, it seemed like new Blues skipper Matt Cline would be reaching for the panic button once again.
Meanwhile, some 60km south-east, club coach Gino Saracino was locked in his own frustrating battle during a B-grade stoush at Kyabram, frantically checking the A-grade scores between overs.
But even he couldn’t believe what lit up the screen as the day went by.
“I’m in Kyabram and my frustrations were growing by the minute,” Saracino said.
“We won a close game, I come off the ground and Katandra was 9-150 and I thought ‘what the hell has happened?’.
“The boys got the win through grit, determination and spin bowling.”
Batting first, Numurkah posted 8-177 in an innings littered with starts, but without any Blue kicking on and raising the bat.
Dylan Grandell came closest with 41, while Matt Price (28), Kody Jackson (22), and Jahlan Lau (18) played roles, but it felt more scaffolding than structure.
On the Eagles’ front, Katandra’s second and third change bowlers — Karl Rosevear, Matthew Long and Manjinder Singh with two wickets each — chimed in to keep the score below 200.
And when it came time to bat, the Eagles’ openers went gangbusters.
Stephen Barrett and Corey Hickford started at a steady clip and reached the 100 partnership in 22 overs, looking for all money like they’d get the job done themselves and spare their teammates a few extra hours in the shade.
But then something changed — or rather, someone.
Import Raguvaran Aravinthan crashed Hickford’s castle one ball shy of his half-century, and four overs later, the classy spinner baited Barrett into an errant shot on 56 and he too was forced to march back to the sheds.
Aravinthan took four of the opening five wickets as Numurkah ripped through the Eagles in a 5-27 salvo, yet at 5-129, with 59 runs required for the win, the game was still very much Katandra’s to lose.
Cue the second serving of sensational spin.
Seventeen-year-old tweaker Kyren Dawson flashed through the middle and tail order with surgical bowling, taking 5-8 as Numurkah stopped the Eagles 20 runs shy of what looked like an open-and-shut case just an hour or so prior.
Saracino was delighted to see his charges secure the win, especially considering the heartbreaking nature of the previous match.
“For Matty (Cline), first win as club captain, that’s obviously relief,” he said.
“The boys have been working hard – Kyabram and Waaia are both pretty good opposition – and (against) Waaia it was a really good game of cricket and they just got us in the end.
“And yesterday the same thing happened, a lot of blokes got starts, but the first five wickets were all caught which is disappointing on our end.”
Spotty shot selection aside, there were a few performances that Saracino couldn’t help but admire.
“Young Kyren Dawson got his first five-for in A-grade, which at 17, is a fairly good effort,” he said.
“He works pretty hard on his game and he wants to do both well – he didn’t get much with the bat, but with the ball he was 5-8.
“Rags was the same ... he didn’t get out to the best of shots from my reports and then comes out and gets four wickets.
“And then Mitch Grandell does what Mitch Grandell does, he ties it up and bowls really well.”
THE GAME
Numurkah 8-177 (Dylan Grandell 41, Matthew Price 28, Manjinder Singh 2-23) d Katandra 157 (Stephen Barrett 56, Corey Hickford 49, Kyren Dawson 5-8)
STAR PLAYER
Kyren Dawson (Numurkah): With a miraculous turnaround needed, Dawson provided the spark for Numurkah to do exactly that. His 5-8 under immense pressure is an early contender for bowling performance of the season.
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