Saturday Sundries | Lower grade cricket begins with a hiss and roar, but not without flaws

By Liam Nash

Oct 17, 2023

Two there: Old Students’ Jason Bathman runs between the wickets. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

Saturday Sundries are all the extra highlights from the weekend’s lower grade cricket — from the top run-scorer to the best bowling figures and anything else of interest from the district grounds.

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A sweep of lower grade action began at the weekend, with a selection of highlights from the full complement of B, C, D and E-grade you may have missed.

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Give her a shine: Nagambie’s Keenan Shepherd. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

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Slide the bat: Old Students’ Brendan Crouch. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

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Hands at the ready: Nagambie’s Brad Smith. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

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Up and about: Nagambie’s Flynn O'Brien. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

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Throw it around: Nagambie’s Will Ulrich. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

News photographer Rechelle Zammit snapped shots from the B-grade contest between Old Students and Nagambie.

The ‘perfect’ over

When PlayHQ was introduced as the new interface for local cricket results, teething issues were always expected.

Little did Numurkah’s Alex Robertson know he’d be the victim ― or beneficiary, however you look at it ― of this switch.

According to the website, the Blues’ bowler steamed through Northerners’ order with figures of 6-0 off one over. That’s right, 6-0 ― not 0-6.

Though a perfect over is possible and has been achieved ― see Aled Carey, 2017 ― it’s almost certain Robertson did not snag six wickets in as many balls, just as Numurkah didn’t chase down the Jets’ total of 104 in 0.2 overs as PlayHQ detailed.

It does make for a good sledge when the Blues next play though (thank me later, Karramomus).

PlayH-Who?

In another instance of a results-based faux pas, the SJ Perry Shield’s opening round threw up another absurd individual performance.

But unlike Robertson’s mythical six-for, this one actually happened.

In Central Park-St Brendan’s’ brutish 131-run battering of Northerners, a certain mystery man in at three bashed 125 off 100 balls on the way to retirement.

The name was redacted on PlayHQ and the PlayCricket app, which is reasonably strange considering Cricket Shepparton records aren’t exactly top-secret KGB files.

We may know who the talented Tiger is, however.

Some light digging has The News believing Central Park’s centurion is none other than Shepparton bull Anthony Andronaco, showing he’s just as capable of slogging sixes as he is bumping off defenders in the Goulburn Valley League.

I can’t speak for Andronaco, but I know that I’d be livid if I hit any more than 13 runs and there wasn’t actual proof of it.

Sharing the love

Ah, E-grade, how we missed you.

The Whitelock Shield roared into life on Saturday, bringing with it all the ‘village cricket’ tropes we have all craved over the past six months.

Cue Waaia to provide the first instance of tactics that would never be seen dead on anything resembling a rolled pitch.

As the Bombers knocked off Murchison by three wickets in round one, they opted for bowling changes galore and tossed the ball around. A lot, as it goes.

Waaia peeled through 10 bowlers during the first innings with only wicketkeeper Matt Daniel not given the chance to roll the arm over.

At that point, surely you’d feel a bit sorry for the man behind the stumps, say ‘here you go brother’ and let him serve up whatever he’s got in the locker.

It could be garbage, sure. But he could also be the second coming of Muttiah Muralitharan.

It’s a risk you must take when you’re playing for the big bucks.

Partnership of dreams

Imagine having the opposition 3-15, chirping away with a quip of ‘better luck next time’ pursed on the lips.

Then, at 40 overs, not only have you failed to bowl the other side out, but you also have a target of 360 to chase. This is the pain Tatura’s D-graders felt at the weekend.

Pine Lodge batters Braydon Kearns and Dayne Webber put on a ludicrous 220-run partnership for the sixth wicket, raining boundaries over Frank Howley Oval’s small hard wicket circumference in the SJ Perry Shield opening round.

Kearns (133) and Webber (126) minced a combined 25 maximums during the onslaught, resulting in five of Tatura’s bowlers going for an economy of nine or more runs an over.

It resembled New Zealand pair Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra’s complete destruction of England in the Cricket World Cup, albeit without a raging crowd to catch the hailing balls.

Hir he is

There’s been a lot of love for the batters in this edition of Saturday Sundries, so it’s time we show some for the bowlers.

Shepparton United’s Tahir Yaqoobi snared career-best figures of 6-12 in his side’s 51-run triumph over Tatura at Frank Howley Oval’s main pitch, a stone’s throw away from the massacre staged by Kearns and Webber.

He had the Bulldogs under a spell at one stage, claiming three wickets in the 15th over alone.

Another notable moment in the game was United batter Ian Maiden leaving for a duck in the fifth ball of an over which had no runs scored in it, one short of a ... you get the gist.