Saturday Sundries | Clyde Young Shield special as B-grade serves up a scintillating round

With C, D and E-grade taking a well-earned break on Saturday, this week’s edition is a Clyde Young Shield special with the highlights hand picked from the spread of B-grade games.

News photographer Megan Fisher was behind the lens for the B-grade contest between Tatura and Karramomus.

Fast game’s a good game

For one reason or another, Tatura must’ve been in a hurry to wrap up proceedings on Saturday.

Of the 90 allotted overs, the Bulldogs needed a little more than half to dispatch Karramomus by eight wickets and get to whatever mystery function was on the slate.

Swing king James Collett and fierce quick Louis Worm set the tone with four wickets each as Tatura rolled the Bloods for 92 in the 25th over.

Young keeper-opener Kade Walker then carried his bat with a wise knock of 33 not out, supported by an equally excellent unbeaten 21 by Baxter Plunkett to get the job done by drinks.

Perhaps water wasn’t what Tatura was thirsting for after all...

Tiron’s tyranny

Five of Nagambie’s batters will have one name burnt into their memory from the weekend: Tiron Fernando.

Fernando produced a bullish spell with the cherry during Pine Lodge’s four-wicket triumph over the Lakers, taking 5-36 in a rampant opening spell.

They say the price of excellence is eternal discipline ― not for Fernando.

He was the Lodgers’ most expensive bowler with six wides and a no ball, but whether his deliveries were erratic or accurate, one thing was certain.

This was box office bowling in its purest form.

Lucky 88

Kyabram left it late to topple Mooroopna in a fizzing game of cricket on Saturday and it’s hard to pick just one highlight from a scorecard laden with individual efforts.

Nicholas Chambers went for an economy of just 1.88 an over for nine, not a bad spell from the Kyabram bowler.

Mooroopna’s Brad Boyle smacked 54 not out, even better.

But denying Jason Leocata his flowers just seems wrong, considering his 88 off 113 balls at the top of the order was a true catalyst in the game’s grand scheme.

Simply put, the Redbacks’ opener was pasting them all over the shop.

He finished with 12 fours in an innings cut short via stumping, 12 runs shy of his first century in nearly nine seasons of senior cricket (don’t worry Jason, we remember that 120-run masterclass back in 2014-15).

United stands (and delivers)

Does Shepparton United get bored of running between the wickets? Maybe.

However, what the United lads never tire of is smashing the ball to the ropes; case in point Saturday.

Princess Park’s tenants belted their second 250-plus total for the season in a monster win over Euroa, posting 9-268 at home.

A whopping 180 runs of those came in boundaries.

Curiously, just one maximum was launched off the bat, that being Fahad Mirza’s, as he creamed a cool 79 runs, while Harry Singh was another of United’s most damaging, playing a swashbuckling innings of 83.

Mirza wasn’t done, though.

The seasoned head dazzled with 4-8 which included two maidens ― talk about a big day on the tools.

Tight as a Tiger

Breathing room is thin at the top of the Clyde Young Shield summit, making Central Park-St Brendan’s hard-nosed win over Katandra all the more important.

The Tigers chalked up a five-wicket victory over the Eagles, with the bowling trio of Sam Holland (3-12), Ethan Beck (3-14) and John Kealey (3-34) aiding their side to a seat at the table’s top.

Just six points separates Central Park-St Brendan’s from Mooroopna in seventh, while the quotient difference between the two is a paper thin 0.047 margin.

What does this mean?

All signs point to the race to finals being a hotly-contested one and, with two-day cricket beginning this weekend, winning and losing margins may make all the difference.

So, hold on to your hats this summer ― it’s going to be a season to remember.