Held on March 6-8, six of the city’s best bowlers turned it on at the Wodonga-hosted competition to take out the men’s division and, in doing so, lifted Shepparton to second in the overall cup standings.
How they got there was no lucky strike.
Up against nine other major regional centres, Shepparton’s stunning start was offset by a rocky second day.
But the sextet managed to bowl its way into a shootout against Warrnambool, the winner emerging with crown in hand.
And from there it was history.
“The final played out to be fairly one sided in the end — our boys thought it through and worked as a team to execute our plan,” team member Paul Kerr said.
“To actually get to the final was where the work was put in.
“We had a really good first day, struggled throughout the middle part of day two, but finished well to be four points back which gave us a chance.”
Kerr, a staple of the side for quite some time, knows what the win meant to some of its newest members.
With Shepparton’s last Country Cup triumph coming in 2014, it was all smiles once the tables began turning during last weekend’s famous shootout victory.
“For five of the guys it was their first time tasting success at the Country Cup which was excellent for them,” he said.
“It is our second year with all six guys together and the boys bowled really well throughout the three days, especially to win that last game convincingly.
“The main thing to come out of it was how well we worked as a team over a roller-coaster few days.”
The Shepparton women's side put up a valiant fight on its way to third place, but couldn’t knock over competition heavyweights Bendigo and Geelong.
“The ladies were similar to us in that they went good on the first day, poor in the second and bounced back well on the third day,” Kerr said.
“They did really well, but just fell short in the end.”
Shepparton emerged with two outstanding individual achievements to match its team successes.
Kelly Jones and Kerr were named in the respective male and female All Star cup teams, having ranked inside the top five averages overall.
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