Central Park-St Brendans showcase batting mettle in comfortable Haisman Shield triumph

Entering Princess Park across town for a run-in with Shepparton Youth Club United, though, it’s unlikely that even the players themselves would have anticipated the ease with which they would chase the combine down.

One thing we learned across the first three weeks of play in the Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield is that the difference between a good day at the office and a bad one is very, very vast for the boys in blue.

With both openers falling meekly, fears likely would have been stoked that a repeat of last week’s capitulation against Kyabram may be on its way once more.

English import Seb Menzhausen was determined to avoid a calamitous repeat, however, bringing his bat to life at the crucial juncture.

Composing himself beautifully in the middle, Menzhausen delivered a sturdy and secure half-century with five fours and a six to provide the steel his peers needed.

Oh, how they needed it.

The only problem overshadowing Menzhausen’s symphonic innings was the freefall the remainder of the lineup found itself in once a shrewd piece of keeping from new pickup Nate Earl sent Rehan Bari on his way for a below-par 17.

With Dwain Vidler and Jarrod Wakeling combining for six scalps - at a combined economy of barely two runs an over - the hosts simply had no answer for the ever-constrictive Tigers attack, setting yet another highly gettable victory target of 118.

While Andrew Boyington struck first by finding the rope for the first runs of the Tigers’ chase, his role was but a cameo as home skipper Sam Nash had his number soon afterwards.

What followed, however, was a long-awaited episode of the Lau and Larkin show.

Central Park’s remaining opener and leader took it upon themselves to go the rest of the way, combining for 13 fours and four sixes in a ripping showcase that exemplified everything the Deakin Reserve tenants had wanted out of this season offensively.

In just over 15 overs, the deed was done as the Tigers roared home for a galvanising nine-wicket win, their third of the campaign.

Larkin wasn’t planning on getting ahead of himself as yet, but acknowledged this result turned a corner.

“We’ve played on three pretty slow wickets and have come up against good quality spinners, so it can happen where we don’t get going,” Larkin said.

“This was a beautiful batting wicket and we wanted to stamp our authority on our run chase. I’m glad it paid off.

“We’ve got a long way to go to turn it around into a batting side, but hopefully today is a bit of a stepping stone.

“Next week will be different conditions again, so we have to face what’s in front of us.”

Of course, it wasn’t all about him and Lau bringing fireworks on offence.

After all, the reliable bowling stocks did their job as ever in providing a perfectly comfortable setting to mash in.

“For us, ‘Vids’, ‘Rum’, ‘Brenno’ and ‘Wakes’ are just professionals who have done it so long,” Larkin said.

“We’re pretty lucky to play with four blokes of their calibre who rock up and do a job. I couldn’t be happier with them.

“We’ll play to the conditions again at Central Park next week; Deakin’s wicket got re-turfed, so we’re waiting for some heat and it’s probably a few weeks away from playing.”

It’s a good run the Tigers are putting together heading into a meeting with bottom-placed Euroa next weekend.

“You don’t want to go into these games thinking you’re going to win,” Larkin said.

“You can’t have teams in this comp get a leg up.

“We go in every week expecting a fight, and Euroa is no different.”

Nash’s defeated side, meanwhile, will seek to rebound from a pair of tough defeats down the road at Kialla Park against Old Students.