Gallery | Saturday Sundries serves up scintillating and scarcely believable feats

To highlight this week’s edition of Saturday Sundries, we witnessed both bowling and batting feats you almost had to be there to see for yourself - hope you like the Whitelock Shield!

News photographer Rechelle Zammit was behind the lens for a wildly memorable E-grade encounter on the front oval at Vibert Reserve between Karramomus and Kyabram.

Redbacks and Bloods bring a bit of everything

You won’t have to wait long to hear about that epic finish in the south of Shepparton.

Round 16 of the Whitelock Shield was a plentiful one in terms of entertainment, but rarely has a contest so truly felt down to the wire in any division this season as what unfolded when the Bloods and Redbacks did battle.

It started off at a perfectly fine pace, with Rajendra Arekalmane blitzing his way to a high-powered 50 where 46 of his runs came from finding the rope, while fellow opener Nathan Watson mashed four fours in his ultimate contribution of 17 and had to scamper down just once.

There was more where that came from down the order as well, with all of Karramomus skipper Andrew Shields’ 16 runs coming through four boundaries while Ian Fleming’s late show of resilience yielded 34 automatic runs out of his handy 39.

Who can blame them on a muggy Saturday? If you’ve got the power, flaunt it.

On the other side, Dino Letizia would have had to wonder what more he could have done to set the visiting red and black outfit up for victory with miserly bowling figures of 4-8 - featuring three maidens, no less.

Once it was Kyabram’s time to wield the willow and chase 167 to win, there was more of the same as Ross Brown sent 30 of his 32 runs out of play early.

The real hook came with just moments left, however, as one of the crazier 11-ball spells anywhere in local cricket unfolded.

Seven runs from victory with four wickets in hand, Kyabram first lost Jack Halstead to a run out, but survived the over without further damage as Flynn Burrows inched his side ever-closer.

The final four deliveries brought three stunning wickets through two catches - one right on the rope for what could have been a walk-off six - and a first ball run out as Karramomus pulled off an unthinkable one-run escape.

They don’t make cricket games like this often.

A Mark-ed man

Mark Nichol, take a bow.

Typically, making a century in any senior grade - in fact, juniors too - will earn you a shout out from Cricket Shepparton, at the very least.

It certainly does your chances of a Sundries feature no harm, anyway ... but how about a double dose?

The Waaia first-drop batsman took the ‘Bomber’ name to heart in a riveting Whitelock Shield display at ‘home’ to Katandra, and for nowhere near the first time this season.

Nichol unleashed hell from the moment he replaced Darcy Wilson at 1-0, racking up runs at an alarming pace and showing no signs of mercy on the Eagle attack.

He would tragically fall two balls short of surviving the 40-over innings intact, but his removal couldn’t prevent an astonishing knock of 203 - featuring 22 (yes, twenty-two) fours and 11 sixes - from entering the history books.

Only one Katandra bowler finished with less than a run a ball as Nichol dazzled and destructed in equal measure.

The Eagles were defiant amidst a fireworks show of their own from Harpreet Singh Gill and Shaun Candy, but there was no overshadowing that main man Mark as Waaia claimed a 30-run win to cap a stellar occasion.

Not superstitious, BUT...

If only 96 was a lottery number.

Late last season, Kyabram’s Paul Wickham had a series of frustrating run-ins with that mystical figure at the crease.

It became a recurring bit - on no fewer than three occasions in 2023-24, Wickham would find himself stranded four runs shy of entering triple-figure territory, though he did break through for a rampant 127 on one occasion.

On that fateful day last season, to answer the obvious question, yes, he did sit on 96 for exactly one ball against Nagambie before immediately bringing up the ton with a six.

This tricky fate, it seemed, was in the rear view mirror.

Sport works in mysterious ways, however, and sure enough, Wickham had another brush with that score again in the Clyde Young Shield away at Central Park-St Brendan’s.

With his side at 9-222, Wickham had just moved to 96 after collecting a double off Jack Hooper.

Sure enough, his stay at the plateau once again lasted a single delivery - but not for the reasons he’d have liked.

Rack up four big ones

Numurkah was able to produce something only seen once before in the northern outfit’s illustrious history.

Back in the Clyde Young Shield, the B-grade Blues took to Kialla Park Reserve - and boy, did they ever take to it - in a meeting with Old Students.

James Pruden and Kody Jackson opened the gates of agony for Students bowlers, carving out a stunning pair of centuries together that engulfed more than two thirds of Numurkah’s 80-over offering.

When all was said and done, the visitors had crafted a whopping 6-402 for Old Students to somehow chase down this weekend, completing a 400-plus innings for just the second time ever seen involving Numurkah.

This was also the first-ever instance for its B-grade outfit, not only presenting a mountainous task to its hosts on day two, but earning a richly deserved slice of Blue-painted folklore.