Waaia wizards power Bombers to opening round Haisman Shield triumph over Euroa

The reason you might ask? How about 110 of them.

Cleeland struck a stupendous ton in at five during Waaia’s 5-274 smash fest batting first, belting 11 fours and four sixes before finding Josh Robertson’s mitts.

His dismissal for 110 off 83 balls set the bar freakishly high after openers Damien Atkins (27 runs) and Brayden Carey (24) started well, but Brenton Low ratified Cleeland’s statement as he carried the torch with 53 not out to spear Waaia to a gigantic total.

Then came Euroa’s turn to play in paradise.

It was more hell than heaven for Sam Harris who was trapped behind by Jesse Trower for one, but when Andrew Squires and Vaughan Kirk started digging in the road began to open up for the Magpies.

Cleeland eventually cleaned up Squires for 19, but Kirk refused to obey, playing a measured and composed innings to give Euroa a chance of entertaining the unthinkable.

But when he was undone by Will Trower on 79, it signalled the death of Magpie hope.

Euroa’s lower order batters stayed on task and saw out the overs, but ended the innings 91 runs short of Waaia, finishing the day on 7-183.

A string of nervy one-wicket wins punctuated the start of last season’s campaign, so Cleeland was over the moon with how hot his Bombers have begun the 2024-25 campaign.

“We did certainly set out for that (starting well) to be the aim,” he said.

“We started in a good fashion albeit it’s only one — last year we took a little bit more than a week to get going, so hopefully from now on we can take that momentum and move forward in the right direction.”

Forever modest, the Bombers skipper said he was “just playing my part of the team role” when quizzed about his glorious century, but was quick to laud the efforts of Trower — Will, that is — after the young gun claimed 5-39.

“To be honest with you, it was a batsman’s paradise, the pitch. It was quite difficult to bowl on for the guys,” he said.

“Will, he got five wickets, but he didn’t get any in his first spell.

“They got to a stage where it probably looked like things were maybe starting to swing their way and Will changed the game for us a little bit through the middle overs.

“To go on and get five wickets was a massive thing for us and hopefully it’s a huge stepping stone for him as well.”

For Euroa, Cohen Paul was excellent with the ball as he picked up 3-37 to be the best of the Magpies’ bowlers.

Waaia now eyes off a winnable set of upcoming fixtures, starting with Pine Lodge followed by Karramomus.

There are no gimmies in the Haisman Shield and Waaia’s nervy one-wicket win over the Bloods last year is the perfect case study for that, so Cleeland was firm about the Bombers not getting too far ahead of themselves while the season is still fresh.

“No game’s an easy game, but hopefully we can carry on from the positive start to the season,” he said.

“We’ll take it a week at a time from now on and Pine Lodge is the next one for us and we’ll focus on finding a way to put that bat and ball effort into next week and that getting us the points again.’’