Sport
Old Students continue Tatura’s Haisman Shield freefall with resolute bat-driven win
There was no Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield one-day grand final place on the line, but the points were there to be treasured.
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Doubly so, perhaps, if you were Tatura, whose home encounter with Old Students served as a chance to get firmly back on track.
In mid-December, Daniel Coombs’ outfit was top of the league and firming as one of the competition’s potential fairytale stories.
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Tatura celebrates a breakthrough. Photo by Megan FisherImage 2 of 10
Tatura's Blake Armstrong earned a big couple of wickets. Photo by Megan FisherImage 3 of 10
Tatura's Nicholas Watt scoops the dot ball. Photo by Megan FisherImage 4 of 10
Tatura's Rajvir Singh and Blake Armstrong celebrate another dismissal. Photo by Megan FisherImage 5 of 10
Tatura's Matt Macansh builds up some momentum. Photo by Megan FisherImage 6 of 10
Old students' Felix Odell came steaming in with a quick-fire innings. Photo by Megan FisherImage 7 of 10
Old Students' Felix Odell and Oscar Lambourn are satisfied with where things are headed. Photo by Megan FisherImage 8 of 10
Tatura keeper Nicholas Watt makes a move towards the stumps. Photo by Megan FisherImage 9 of 10
Tatura's Mathew Macansh and Rajvir Singh have a word between overs. Photo by Megan FisherImage 10 of 10
It was worth an extra drinks break or two as the temperatures seared. Photo by Megan FisherBy contrast, Old Students had come off the back of a miserable outright defeat to Waaia, providing the Bombers a launching pad back into top six contention.
Not one soul would have been brave enough to bet that the Students would take early control of this contest with the bat, then, on a Howley Oval deck which has so rarely favoured offence this season.
It was the first and second drops for the visiting side, Felix Odell and Oscar Lambourn, who got things really on a roll.
Lambourn continued a strong tradition of performing well on Saturday after getting your profile in a Friday News, finding the rope eight times to match his mashing partner in Odell.
It was the Armstrong brothers who put paid to the good work done by these two Students, though, as Blake had Odell caught out before Lambourn’s resistance was undone, trapped in front by Jayden.
Looking to take advantage of his side’s strong position, keeper Maninderjit Singh decided to supercharge the innings with a torrential unbeaten 58 off 55 deliveries to see his side through to a well-above-par 8-225.
The reply innings could hardly have gotten off to a more inauspicious start as the first over lasted an astonishing 15 balls, skipper Callan McCabe struggling to find his length with no fewer than eight wides including four in a row.
Gifts aside, Preston Aurish couldn’t go on with it in being dismissed for two, but fellow opener Lachlan Magee made a job of it with an eventual team-high 39.
There was still something in it for the bowlers as the sun did its work across the afternoon following an early start, and Jake Sutherland was taking full advantage through the heart of Tatura’s line-up.
His four wickets, including the removals of Daniel Coombs and Blake Armstrong for single figures, were pivotal as the hosts simply ran out of manpower, the visitors taking six handy points back to Kialla with a 45-run win.
THE GAME
Tatura 180 (Lachlan Magee 39, Nicholas Watt 34, Jake Sutherland 4-29) defeated by Old Students 8-225 (Maninderjit Singh 59*, Oscar Lambourn 48, Lachlan Magee 3-35)
STAR PLAYER
Jake Sutherland (Old Students): There was simply no denying Sutherland during crucial spells of the second innings. Sutherland claimed the right victims at the right times to help whip up a confidence-boosting win.
Callan McCabe was more than pleased to correct the ship after crashing and burning last time out.
“Coming off the back of an outright, we needed to show a different mindset today and we did that,” McCabe said.
“We were positive with the bat, and we had young Oscar and Felix making 40s in the top order all the way down to ‘Mani’ with a 50, so I was really happy with that total.
“We needed to take the game to them and rotate strike. That’s what we’ll take in next week as well against Ky, with two big games left for us against them and Numurkah.
“It just shows you how good our junior program is. It wasn’t Oscar’s first fantastic knock for us, but we’ve got B-grade full of juniors as well and it’s good to see some of them come through and play A-grade now.
“We want to take what we’ve learned from today and avoid more dot balls. But being tighter with the ball and in the field is what we’ll work on.”
Sports Journalist