Invergordon Cricket Club, the little north-eastern dot on the map that boasts a standalone team in C-grade, has been a powerhouse of Cricket Shepparton’s lower grades for some time now.
Year upon year, the cricketers of Invergordon have played the game as if the scoreboard were an afterthought, holding their tongue firmly in cheek just as tightly as hands on a bat or ball.
Not that they weren’t good — quite the opposite.
In recent times, the club stitched its name into the competition’s history with three consecutive premierships from 2021-22 to 2023-24 — four if you count the T20 flag to kick it all off.
But now, the dynasty stands on shaky ground.
This season, for the first time in years, Invergordon didn’t make the finals.
More concerning than a premature end to its campaign, however, is the growing sense that this could be the beginning of the end.
Speaking on Cricket Shepparton’s The First Innings podcast, president Billy Bagley outlined the peculiar, yet charming factor that makes fielding a full XI tricky when Saturday morning rolls around.
“We’re all good mates and now that we’re a bit older and are all getting towards 30, we’ve got weddings, engagements, so when one of them’s in, there’s usually at least half the team invited,” Bagley said.
“We hadn’t had a forfeit for a fair few years and obviously had a couple this year.
“It does come with its detriments when you’re all such a close group of mates, but we’ll regroup.
“We had a bit of a tally at the end of the last game to see if we’d actually go around again, and I think it’s looking pretty good. We’ll stick it out for one more year I’d say.”
Bagley said most weekends Invergordon often had to find players “under rocks”, while also recounting a time the club made the most of grave circumstances.
“We had one game where one of our teammates unfortunately had a death in the family and had their family down from Queensland,” he said.
“We had five fill-ins that were all from the same family who all got to play for the first time together under the Inver banner — that was pretty nice.”
Another gleaming moment on the Hawks’ timeline landed 12 months ago.
With backs firmly pressed against the wall, Invergordon dug deep into its bag of tricks and pulled a rabbit out of the hat during a storied semi-final.
“Last year was pretty special, against Northerners they needed about 15 runs to win and we needed three wickets, and we knocked them over in one over,” Bagley said.
“Coming from the clouds, we were a bit gobsmacked and were lucky enough to go on the next week and get the chocolates.”
So what can Invergordon do to keep those good times rolling?
Bagley said new players were welcome and those who were keen could shoot the club a message on Facebook.
All that’s required is a pair of runners and a sense of humour.
“If you can’t take a joke, you might not last too long,” he said with a laugh.
“But as long as you can look on the inside and have a bit of a laugh, you’ll be fine.”
Invergordon’s future could be on the brink and, if next season is the club’s last, the Hawks will go down as Cricket Shepparton’s entertainers.
They’re the funny guys.
The battlers.
But they’re not backing down yet.
“We’ll be standing on our own two feet again next season, which is great because there’s not much left out at Inver,” Bagley said.
“The tennis club’s gone, the school’s gone, we’re the cockroaches of the town with anything left ... we’ve still got a little bit of township about us which is really nice.
“Next year we’re definitely looking for a couple more players; I feel if you can get between eight and nine who can play most weeks, you can fill the team with a couple of others that fly in, fly out a little bit.
“But I’ve got it on some good authority we might have a couple more regulars next year, so hopefully we can get back up near the top and go for another one.”
17°C