Eye on the ball: Central Park-St Brendan’s gloveman Jack McCarten.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Central Park-St Brendan’s wasted little time in reminding its Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield competition it is still top dog, dismantling an undermanned Nagambie by eight wickets at Shepparton’s Deakin Reserve.
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Losing star brother duo Mark and Luke Nolan in the lead up to the game, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Lakers to post a competitive score, as the Tigers pounced on their top order vulnerability.
Inspired by a damaging four-wicket spell from Dwain Vidler, the Tigers restricted Nagambie to 94 in the first innings, with their ability to consistently hit good areas a highlight of the performance.
Steaming in: Tiger James Lloyd.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
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Putting it away: Nagambie’s James Auld.
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Megan Fisher
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Cue the celebrations: Central Park-St Brendan’s celebrates a wicket.
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Megan Fisher
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Teamwork: Jarrod Wakeling from Central Park-St Brendan’s.
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Megan Fisher
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Searching for runs: Nagambie’s Tyrone Muir.
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Megan Fisher
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Deep discussion: Nagambie pair James Auld and Ricky Misiti.
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Megan Fisher
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Swing and a miss: Nagambie’s Ricky Misiti.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
The Central Park batters then showed their class in the chase, with coach Tyler Larkin and captain Brendan Scott leading the way to reach the 95 required for victory in 18.2 overs.
“We obviously had a disappointing week leading up suffering our first Haisman Shield loss and then losing the T20 grand final, so we were pretty intent on going out there and doing a number on Nagambie,” Larkin said of his side’s mindset heading into the game.
“They were a little bit disadvantaged missing their two best players in the Nolan boys, so we knew they would have been under the pump a bit with that, so it was a real focus of ours to go out and bowl well and I thought we did that.”
Ramadan Yze was the star early for the Tigers, picking up two early wickets to have the Lakers under a lot of pressure at 2-14.
Returning to the line-up for the first time in 2022, opener Ricky Misiti then went about filling the void left by Luke Nolan, making a gutsy 47 to try and rebuild the innings alongside Josh Sanderson.
But just as they looked to be regaining control, Vidler would come into the attack and wreak havoc in 5.2 overs of mayhem.
Receiving great support from spinner Jarrod Wakeling (2-4), the pair inspired a stunning middle order collapse of 7-26 to end the Nagambie innings at 94.
Oozing confidence at the halfway mark, Central Park would suffer an early scare losing opener Tim Kelly for a third ball duck.
But from there it was one-way traffic, as Larkin came to the crease and anchored the chase alongside Scott and the big-hitting Rhiley Lau.
Reaching the target with eight wickets in the shed, Larkin said the performance was exactly what his side needed moving forward.
“We are always trying to improve our game and never lost confidence after last week, but we definitely needed that shot in the arm to keep us on our toes,” Larkin said.
“It was fantastic to see a few of our boys recapture some form and hopefully it can continue heading into finals.”
THE GAME
Central Park-St Brendan’s 2-96 (Tyler Larkin 31 not out, Brendan Scott 24, Brayden Biggs 1-10) d Nagambie 94 (Ricky Misiti 47, Dwain Vidler 4-9, Rhiley Lau 2-4)
STAR PLAYER
Dwain Vidler (Central Park-St Brendan’s): As Nagambie began to rebuild its innings through Ricky Misiti and Josh Sanderson, Tigers captain Brendan Scott threw the ball to Dwain Vidler and as they say, the rest is history. Consistently hitting good areas, Vidler tore through the Lakers’ middle order to finish with figures of 4-9 and inspire a stunning collapse of 7-26.
