Saturday Sundries | The B in B-grade stands for Beeck this week

With some horses occupying attention nationwide, B-grade cricketers nonetheless got on their gallop in the absence of most lower divisions.

Capturing the action at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve between the Cats and Lakers was Holly Daniel.

Harry with a carry, but in the end ...

To the credit of all involved in round five of the Clyde Young Shield, there were no absurdly low scores to write on — no bizarre anomalies that people would rather not relive.

For Shepparton Youth Club United’s Harry Singh, though, you’d have to wonder how he felt in the middle of what looked like disaster unfolding around him as his side batted first against Old Students.

In at first drop after Chris Barclay’s brief stint, Singh went about his business with aplomb courtesy of 10 boundaries, charging forward on behalf of his whole side, in essence.

Present every step of the way, hope looked all but lost when his side went nine down for barely 100, Singh having notched almost half of those runs, before a spirited stand with skipper Hamish McGregor restored a sensible sum on the scoreboard.

The final two balls of the Students’ chase were about as eventful as could be as Jake Sutherland fell off the penultimate ball, leaving Hamza Abbas one chance to be a hero with three runs needed to win.

Abbas legged out a double in his only opportunity, leaving both sides stranded with a rare draw.

At least Singh didn’t bring home the bacon for no reward at all, one might suppose.

How good’s ripping through a few?

Numurkah already wasn’t making anything easy in its meeting with Karramomus at Vibert Reserve.

James Pruden and Blues keeper Tyson Woods had gone on a first-innings, first-wicket tear with a century-plus partnership to start the day with the Bloods firmly up against it.

Despite a promising start to Karramomus’ attempts in chasing down an imposing 216, Nathan Jones was at risk of having to pull a Harry Singh after arriving in at four.

The last true line of resistance came when Luke Sibley fell for 10, leaving Karramomus six down and 75 away from victory.

It wasn’t that there was no time to compile a winning run, but the personnel simply evaporated under the red-hot tandem of Liam Gledhill and Reydan Lacuin, who simply tore the tail to shreds as the Bloods fell all out for 149, losing 5-7 to cap things off.

Sometimes, you can’t beat the simplicity of a destructive pair of arms rolling over what’s left of a batting order. It’s just something that works every time.

Welcome to the club

Now, of course, is the week’s undisputed main event; to quote Rihanna, ‘Baby, this is what you came for’.

Joining the annals of News sports writers who have plundered through Cricket Shepparton’s lower divisions during the warmer months — this humble reporter happily excluded — is cadet Marcus Beeck, who graced Katandra’s B-grade outfit for its meeting with Tatura.

Brandan Reilly and James Collett did most of the heavy lifting against the Eagles bowlers, but just when Tatura skipper Louis Worm might have become integral to a late momentum swing, up steps Beeck himself to pop him up for an easy out and the first of — we presume — hundreds of lower-grade off-spin victims.

Not a bad way to open your account, at least.

Contributing nine off 44 balls with the bat at a glorious 20.45 strike rate, Beeck wrapped up his opening stint caught out at gully, though his Katandra side would go on to claim a two-wicket win.

With his name now rubber-stamped in News infamy, there’s at least a genuine hope that B-grade will come calling again even when the other divisions resume this coming weekend.