Cricket Shepparton B-grade | round one wrap

Batting first, the Lodgers coasted to 69 before Hamish Cann was removed by Angus Lake.

Fellow opener Steven Van Taarling was next, firing one into the hands of Jackson Collins after raising the bat for a respectable 51.

Pine Lodge kept the scoreboard ticking over and, thanks to an anchoring knock of 48 from Cooper Binks, the visitors crept past the 200 mark to gain the upper hand.

Then it was United’s turn to start swinging.

The hosts seemed in cruise control until Steven Tate and Lake’s dismissal in short succession, but like Pine Lodge, United found stability in the middle order through Darshana Lokuhettige (56) and Chris Barclay (34).

Ranjithan Thirachchelvan’s three-for wrested back control for the Lodgers and, from there, the game looked destined to go down to the wire.

Which is precisely what happened.

United knocked home the winning runs with four balls - and one wicket – to spare, sealing six points in emphatic fashion.

The Cats were hounded by Grant Hutchins (5-24) but edged out to 9-152 from its shortened 43 overs thanks a sturdy 45 from Paul McDonald.

Northerners then pressed on and looked a strong chance, but fizzled out to fall short of the mark by 15 runs despite having four men in the shed.

Watt (60), partnered by a half century from young gun Xavier Hutchinson, powered the host to 8-188, and the score would have been greater if not for Jake Keating’s sizzling 6-20.

Sent in to bat, Karramomus never quite hit its straps apart from Luke Sibley, and when he was run out one run shy of 50, the game was all but lost.

Unbeaten knocks of 48 and 34 from Lukas Hanslow and Nicholas Chambers had the Redbacks chase down the Lakers’ total of 109 with ease, losing just two wickets in the process.

Elsewhere, Waaia versus Nurmukah and Euroa and Katandra’s clash were rained out.