Haisman Shield | Mooroopna rejoins winners’ list with low-scoring win

Yet the Jets were not falling over without a fight, with some quality bowling causing the Cats plenty of problems, but they eventually got over the line with two wickets to spare.

Speaking after the win, Mooroopna coach Luke Zanchetta said both sides made the Tallygaroopna Recreation Reserve pitch look more difficult to play than it actually was.

“I sort of feel a bit sorry for the curator there because it wasn’t a 95 plays 96 wicket,” Zanchetta said.

“There was just a constant flow of wickets all day, I’m not 100 per cent sure what happened, for them too, people just kept getting out and missing balls or getting bowled, hitting ones to fielders, it was quite a strange day of cricket to be honest.”

Winning the toss and choosing to bowl, Northerners struggled to put runs on the board, with the bowling spells of Zanchetta (3-13), Jake Wright (3-21) and Simon D’Elia (2-11) keeping the Jets to a total of 95.

This performance with the ball would be replicated by the home side, with the Cats sitting at 7-44 17.4 overs into their innings thanks to sparkling spells from Tim Brett (3-15) and Josh Sidebottom (3-23).

Sitting in a precarious position the Mooroopna tail would get the side over the line, with Zanchetta (23), Henry Barrow (16) and D’Elia (12) taking the Cats to glory.

“It’s a very important result for our season,” Zanchetta said.

“It’s been spoken about the last couple of years the importance of banking points before Christmas just in case you have a slip-up after.

“We’ve got a hard few weeks ahead of us with the sides we’re playing, the next four or five weeks will determine where we finish in the season.”

The result has Mooroopna in fourth spot with one loss, while Northerners sit in sixth with a 3-2 record.