Saturday saw them secure their first win in over two seasons, with teenage quick Blake Armstrong strong-arming Karramomus at Vibert Reserve care of a rip-roaring six-wicket haul to help secure Rod Kilmartin Memorial honours.
Returning coach Daniel Coombs recognised the gravity of his side’s three-wicket triumph, noting what it meant to finally end Tatura’s massive losing streak.
“It was really good for us to get the win, obviously it has been a couple of years since Tat has won a game,” he said.
“It has also been a while since Tatura has held the Rod Kilmartin Memorial Shield, so it was really nice for the club – our A, B and C sides all won so it’s a really promising start.”
Winning the toss to send Karramomus into bat, Tatura had castles beginning to crash five overs in when Zac Groombridge was run out for single digits.
Then Armstrong got going.
Scything through the Bloods’ order like a hot knife through butter, Tatura’s strike bowler had umpire Brett Sharp’s finger triggering systematically as his acute line and length proved near impossible to play.
Older brother Jayden chipped in with a couple of wickets of his own, and when Karramomus’ resisting batters Bayden Bailey (29) and Billy Jones (20) exited, rapid capitulation had the host fade to a meagre total of 84.
However, the job was only half done, as far as Tatura was concerned.
Armstrong was unable to recreate his bowling exploits with bat in hand and departed for a duck, and when Coombs was dismissed shortly after, suddenly Karramomus had a sniff.
Opener Tom Vibert steadied the ship however, and at 4/74, the game appeared to be put to bed.
Despite losing three wickets without making a single run, a sonic boom sounded around Vibert Reserve as Tatura held on to collect a famous win and the Rod Kilmartin Memorial Shield to boot.
Though Coombs noted his charges made the win more difficult than needed, he couldn’t take away from the moment and praised Armstrong’s performance with the ball.
“The wicket wasn’t the easiest to bat on and I think it suited Blake’s bowling style, he bowled a couple of jaffas to remove their batsmen,” he said.
“Our bowling is looking promising, but we need players to be making a volume of runs so we can reach defendable totals each week.
“It is about being as competitive as we can so we’re in every game and for us that will meaning batting-wise, we’ll have to click.”
