Sport
Gallery | Karramomus takes commanding stance as first-innings Haisman Shield points become a formality
As far as two-day cricket goes, Saturday’s showing was a masterclass from Mitch McGrath’s men at Lemnos Reserve.
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In a clash of two lower-rung outfits in this season of the Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield, one seeking a path out of the wilderness and another trying to find its feet at the level, there were few confident predictions pre-game.
Boy, did Karramomus remove any doubt before too long.
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Karramomus' Mitch McGrath looks back after trying to prevent the boundary. Photo by Megan FisherImage 2 of 11
Karramomus keeper Luke Forge keeps the ball from getting too far. Photo by Megan FisherImage 3 of 11
Pine Lodge's Xavier Waters gets on the front foot. Photo by Megan FisherImage 4 of 11
Karramomus' Zane Newbound steams right in. Photo by Megan FisherImage 5 of 11
Karramomus' Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe took a firm stranglehold through the middle overs. Photo by Megan FisherImage 6 of 11
Karramomus' Zac Groombridge fields comfortably. Photo by Megan FisherImage 7 of 11
Karramomus' Jayden Dhosi completes the catch for another wicket. Photo by Megan FisherImage 8 of 11
Karramomus' Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe swings through his motion. Photo by Megan FisherImage 9 of 11
Pine Lodge's Tiron Fernando gets more protective. Photo by Megan FisherImage 10 of 11
Karramomus had a lot of celebrating to do throughout the day. Photo by Megan FisherImage 11 of 11
Pine Lodge's Tiron Fernando and Xavier Waters take stock between overs. Photo by Megan FisherZane Newbound and Lachie Keady combined to skittle the home openers for a combined nine, repeating the dose with another single-figure victim apiece before import Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe took charge of affairs.
While Darshana Prasad Loku Hettige was again able to hold his head high on offence — becoming the latest to perform well immediately after having a profile in The News — there was little to no joy elsewhere for the hosts.
His 35 went virtually unaccompanied down the stretch as only two Lodgers reached double-figures, Tiron Fernando providing some brief relief with his 18 after coming in at nine.
All told, though, Karramomus would find itself chasing only 110 to claim six straightforward points after Darkes-Sutcliffe claimed four poles — and the visitors came ever so close to achieving this even before stumps.
McGrath and Zavier Davidson took on the burden alone, with the latter providing a serious spark with the willow in finding the rope 11 times to close the day out at 75 unbeaten.
THE GAME SO FAR
Pine Lodge 109 (Darshana Prasad Loku Hettige 35, Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe 4-28, Lachie Keady 3-25) leads Karramomus 0-106 (Zavier Davidson 75*, Mitch McGrath 28*, Travis Waters 0-10)
The Lodgers do technically lead at the close of play, but there’s naturally a question mark over whether the Bloods fancy themselves to go for an outright next weekend.
For now, though, McGrath was happy to lap up the good fortunes of day one.
“It was one of the best days of cricket we’ve had for quite a long time,” McGrath said.
“It’s reward for effort. The boys who opened the bowling held a great partnership to start us off.
“Everyone did their job and was consistent, so you can’t ask for much more. We’ve almost been on the end of that sometimes, so it’s been nice to turn the tables and show what we can achieve.
“Jackson has been excellent with the ball all year, good holding up an end for us and he’s been a great acquisition for the club.”
Inevitably, there will be time to wonder whether the bigger bag of points crosses his mind.
“We need to get blokes out in the middle scoring runs, so we’ll play it by ear,” McGrath said.
“If it looks like a good opportunity, we’ll take it, but we’ll get some blokes into form to start with.
“We knew if we could bring a standard of cricket into the back end of the year, where there were some sides in our weight division, we could try and knock some of them off.”
Sports Journalist