Arm-stronger together: Tatura’s top tandem on the journeys so far

That said, bubbling beneath the surface for some time was a core of young talents ready to break out and take Tatura to its long-awaited next level.

At the forefront of that emerging crop are the ever-reliable duo of Jayden and Blake Armstrong.

Jayden, 25, naturally embarked on somewhat of a head start in his own cricketing endeavours as the eldest of three boys which includes Tatura junior Jack Mahoney.

Once Blake, weeks from turning 22, grabbed his first bat — largely inspired by Jayden, as the elder sibling claims — the pair became inseparable in the sporting realm and has remained so since.

“I was watching cricket on the TV from a young age, always watching the Aussies,” Jayden said.

“I got into underage cricket through under-10s and under-12s and, of course, plenty of backyard cricket with Blake as well.

“Through our junior days, we played together a lot too. When I first started playing by myself, he always wanted to grab a bat and ball and play himself every Saturday morning.”

In Blake’s case, while the backyard setting was obviously a catalyst, it perhaps took slightly longer to find his full-scale attachment to the game.

“Growing up with Jayden and playing together helped, as well as having my younger brother Jack Mahoney there playing as well,” Blake said.

“I started loving it around that seven to eight-year-old range, but it became a bigger thing when I was 13 or 14 and playing B-grade with Tat.

“That’s when I started to think that, while I love this, I could also keep doing it a while.”

Indeed they have, both tracking to increasing prominence as the years go by.

As you’d expect out of a brotherly combination that sharpened one another for such a time, Jayden has emerged as a prominent A-grade bowler first and foremost, in contrast to Blake’s often-brilliant batting.

The elder brother has given himself a chance every step of the journey these two have embarked on, citing a voracious hunger for the game as the catalyst for his achievements.

“My consistent bowling is my best strength and taking wickets when we need to is my strongest asset,” Jayden said.

“I back myself whenever I can. I just enjoyed it as much as I could as a junior.

“I took every opportunity I got, which led to playing higher-grade cricket at a young age; I always wanted to play the best I could.”

Sure enough, Blake would find himself proven at high levels ahead of his time before long as well, with the duo affirming its credentials through an under-16 premiership.

That junior flag was a unanimous pick among the boys as a favourite cricketing accomplishment together.

“I debuted in A-grade at 14, batting down at 10 or 11 and doing my apprenticeship down there, so to speak,” Blake said.

“I was more in the team for my bowling, but I got the chance to go higher up the order and just took it.

“My patience in batting at the moment is something I’ve been working on the last couple of years.

“My main memories (of the under-16 premiership) are me not doing much and Jayden probably doing a lot more than I did.”

Nobody has benefitted more from their emergence, of course, than the broader Tatura Cricket Club itself.

A 5-1 start to the current Haisman Shield campaign is underscored by a terrific bowling effort to hold Waaia to barely 100 up north — and these two have played enormous roles in what shapes as a breakout campaign for the club.

Blake has wielded his bat like he was trying to extinguish it, bringing nothing but heat across the first month of the season with a string of half-centuries, averaging 50.2 with a fifth-placed run tally.

Meanwhile, Jayden has delivered as promised with the ball courtesy of 12 wickets at a comfortable 12.42 average — also tied for the league lead in total catches alongside two wicketkeepers.

A finals drought lasting more than a decade, though it remains early doors for now, only looks more likely to end after an impressive start in the two-day realm.

In any brotherly endeavour, though, there’s just a hint of one-upsmanship simmering beneath.

That said, when both were asked in confidence who had enjoyed the better fortunes to kick off the season, their viewpoints were surprisingly deferential to one another.

“Jayden’s started better with the ball and I’ve started better with the bat. I’ll just leave it at that,” Blake said with a grin.

“It was always a battle playing together and when playing in the backyard, neither one of us were ever out.

“He pushed me every day to be a better cricketer, though, and he knows a thing or two.”

Jayden perhaps acknowledged the underlying rivalry more directly, but duly recognised it all comes in good fun — especially when both are at their best.

“If one brother’s doing pretty well, we want to do as well as the other one and we’re each doing well at the moment,” Jayden said.

“It’s good to have a healthy battle there, but Blake’s been a class above with batting really well.

“He’s due for a big one after he’s looked good for a few years.”

They certainly look out for one another’s interests as well, with Blake remaining at home during the winter, while Jayden took his cricketing ambitions to the UK.

Having received the endorsement to back himself the same way and with Jayden having committed once again to Tatura’s Goulburn Valley League side next year, Blake appears destined to try his hand on that internation excursion.

Between now and then, though, there’s a finals series to shoot for and, in terms of ambitions, both are unequivocally on the same page.

“The A-grade only finished two games out of the top six last year and we lost a couple of close games we really could have won,” Blake said.

“I hope we can really push for finals this year.

“It would be very nice considering we’ve been down the bottom so long and this group has stuck together through a lot of that.

“They’re all enjoying their cricket, so that would be unreal.”

Jayden has, of course, been at the fore of that young core which has proved the catalyst for Tatura’s recent uptick and he similarly dreams of that elusive berth.

“Playing finals would be an awesome achievement from where we’ve come from,” Jayden said.

“We’ve battled with a young team, but we’re starting to grow, so if we get there, we’ll see what happens from there.

“It would be awesome as there are so many who did hard yards here before we were playing seniors.

“It would not just be great for myself and Blake, but we’ve pretty much all come through juniors here.”