The Cats and Redbacks had put in high-scoring shifts, with Kyabram’s efforts led by a brilliant century partnership between opener Paul Parsons (90) and skipper Kyle Mueller (46).
Just as Kyabram gave glimpses of looking like the side everybody expected it to be in this Haisman Shield run, Matthew Price put the chase on his back in making his way to 88 and batting through to the final over.
His dismissal, clean bowled by Billy McLay, left the game in a precarious spot.
THE GAME
Mooroopna 9-205 (M. Price 88, N. Breslin 33, J. McLay 2-27) d Kyabram 7-204 (P. Parsons 90, K. Mueller 46, L. Zanchetta 1-18)
STAR PLAYER
Matthew Price (Mooroopna): Price was the solid rock Mooroopna desperately needed in the chase, with sheer running prowess across several partnerships ultimately putting the Cats in position for Zanchetta’s mercurial cameo.
The Cats sat at 9-201, three runs shy of Kyabram’s 7-204, with two balls to find one last big knock and 11th hitter Luke Zanchetta reporting to the crease.
Talk about delivering in the clutch, though.
Rising above the tension, Zanchetta immediately dispatched McLay’s delivery to the rope and provided the galvanising walk-off hit that saw the Redbacks’ slump resume in heartbreaking scenes.
It certainly could have been more comfortable.
The Cats seemed in total control at 4-173 before a bizarrely close pair of run-outs and a subsequent pair of McLay scalps almost handed Kyabram the badly needed points.
In the end, though, Zanchetta was grateful for his team’s survival.
“(Kyabram) will probably be one of the rivals we’re going to be fighting for top six,” Zanchetta said.
“Whenever you can beat a side like that it puts you in good stead to be playing in March.
“It was massive for us to win with how well (Kyabram) fielded and the big score on the board.
“Matty Price really set the innings up beautifully. Him and (Aaron) Di Fede put 20 or so up really quickly just running hard and putting pressure on the field.”
Of course, once Price fell, it was down to Zanchetta alone and the pressure that comes with no margin for error.
Before he could reach the middle for the fateful moment, he burst into laughter.
Hardly a standard reaction in the circumstances, is it?
“They had a young water boy, about 10 years old, and as he was running back from carrying the drinks he went past me and said ‘don’t get a golden duck, mate’,” Zanchetta said.
“Di Fede was asking me what was so funny, but I think that took a lot of angst out of it.
“It was bowled exactly where I was looking for, and I was lucky enough to shut my eyes and hit one out of the middle to deep cover.
“I tried to get it into the gap, but there’s also a reason I bat down the bottom.”
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