Tatura stuns Central Park-St Brendan’s with eight-run underdog Haisman Shield win

Wickets at key times of the Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield match, stymieing partnerships and busting momentum, handed the visitor its stunning underdog victory defending 162 runs at Deakin Reserve.

Tatura was missing a litany of strike bowlers, looking to the likes of Will Russell (4-43) and Chaz Cheatley (3-40) to shoulder the load and, in doing so, earn great praise from Coombs.

“We’re obviously chuffed to get the win. We’ve had lots of close two-day games, but we just seem to have the knack of nicking them recently,” he said.

“It’s small margins really. I thought we bowled reasonably well.

“Jayden Armstrong’s injured and can’t bowl, Matt McCansh is injured and can’t bowl either, so we’re probably struggling bowling-wise.

“But it shows our depth in our line-up to win a game like that with quite a few out.”

Tatura struck early as Cheatley trapped Keiran Hogeboom for one in the second over and the Bulldogs were barking again three overs later as Xavier Hutchison stooped low with some tidy glovework to catch Jack McCarten for nine.

Dab hand Tyler Larkin dug in and quarterbacked the Tigers’ scoring, but with partners few and far between, the waters soon became murky for Central Park-St Brendan’s.

Larkin went on to raise the bat, but his race was run shortly after.

He latched onto Russell’s short-pitched delivery, slashing hard through point, but the aerial shot was taken well and Tatura’s roar was enough to indicate it’d gotten its man.

Yet, at 6-98, the Tigers were still in the hunt.

Ethan Baxter (35) came in swinging to raise the odds of a comeback win tenfold and when his monster six brought Central Park-St Brendan’s within a few lusty blows of victory at 8-151, the game was well and truly in the balance.

However, Russell baited him the following ball to shift the momentum back in Tatura’s favour.

Blake Armstrong took the final wicket — Dwain Vidler for a duck — completing Tatura’s upset win in the grandest of fashions and plastering a smile on Coombs’ face.

“It was a great effort, particularly with the ball from Chaz and Will. I thought they both bowled brilliantly and we just steadily kept picking up wickets which makes it difficult for them (Central Park),” he said.

“They never really got a big partnership together ... we just kept chipping away, we never gave up.

“I thought we fielded pretty well throughout the game, so it ended up being small margins.”

Cheatley, a new addition to Tatura’s framework in the 2023-24 Haisman Shield season, stepped up with his three-for to draw admiration from his leader.

“He’s bowled particularly well in a couple of games, he’s pretty consistent with the ball and he’s good with the bat too,” Coombs said.

“He probably should have got a few more runs this year, so we’re hoping he maybe will stick around next year. It’s great to have another all-rounder in the team.

“The last two games, he’s really got his rhythm there and bowled against Mooroopna and Central Park, good opposition, with two really good spells.”

Following the Central Park-St Brendan’s win, Tatura has now triumphed in three of its past four fixtures.

It’s a bittersweet pill for Coombs, who slightly laments earlier losses while also beaming at his young side’s progress.

“It’s been a really good finish to the season,” he said.

“It probably makes you look back at a couple of games before Christmas where we didn’t play particularly well and you think ‘if we’d got another win we might’ve been a chance for the top six’.

“But our goal is to win the last game and finish as high as we can.

“As a side, we’re definitely on the upward curve and improving and starting to really show it against the best sides. It’s been brilliant after Christmas.”