Haisman Shield | Gallery | Central Park-St Brendan’s’ class shines through in rain-affected clash against Old Students

But that did not stop the Tigers from showing their class, with Mason Reeves standing up with ball in hand and producing a pivotal spell of 3-23 to help restrict Old Students to 9-131 in the first innings.

While coach Tyler Larkin (59) and Tyrone Bradley (44 not out) spearheaded a professional run chase for the visitors — which finished at 3-125 before rain forced a premature end to proceedings, handing Central Park the seven-wicket win.

Winning the toss and batting first Old Students found themselves on the back foot early, losing early wickets to be in a spot of bother at 2-5.

This would bring young gun Oscar Lambourn and aggressive number four Felix Odell to the crease, tasked with engineering the mammoth rebuilding effort.

However, they were not fazed by the situation, putting on a near-flawless 82-run stand to put Old Students in a great position to pull off an upset.

Spearheaded by Odell’s 66 off 54 deliveries, which included two fours and four sixes, he took the seasoned Central Park attack to the cleaners in what was a breathtaking display of batting.

Seemingly on their way to coughing up a large first innings total the Tigers needed somebody to stand up and, after not getting a bowl the previous week, Reeves was the man who answered the call.

Firstly taking the big scalp of Odell, Reeves would pile pressure on the young Old Students lower order and claim two more victims in a spell that helped restrict the home side to a manageable 9-131.

“Old Students really had us under the pump there with Felix making some quick runs,” Central Park-St Brendan’s coach Tyler Larkin said.

“But we thought if we could just break through into their younger lower order we could peg them back and Mason Reeves was excellent getting the game back on our terms.

“His spell was so important for us and made the chase much easier for us batters.”

The chase did not all go Central Park’s way, however, as it lost a pair of early wickets to be under the pump at 2-15.

But in eerily similar circumstances to the week before, Larkin came to the crease and guided his team out of trouble, playing with complete control to record a second straight half-century.

This time he had Bradley for company, who was elevated to number four after an injury to Rhiley Lau in the field, and played his role to perfection to finish with an unbeaten 44.

Putting on 105 for the third wicket, the pair would steer the Tigers to the edge of the victory target, before Larkin fell for 59 in the dying stages.

With 13 runs required, the heavens would then open putting an end to play, but with the game well and truly in its grasp it was decided Central Park would be handed the win.

Skipping away to a 2-0 start for the second straight season Larkin said he was pleased with the way his team had handled its business in the opening fortnight.

“It’s not going too bad, we haven’t been anywhere near our best yet which is probably a pleasing thing knowing there is plenty of room for improvement,” Larkin said.

“The most pleasing aspect from these first two weeks is that we’ve had contributions from everyone.

“This week we had Tyrone Bradley and Mason Reeves as our main contributors and they didn’t bat or bowl last week, so as a coach and player in the team that’s a good sign because we aren’t just relying on one or two guys to get it done.”