Saturday Sundries | Misery, mashing and milestones headline lower grade action

The Cricket Shepparton umbrella brought us a little bit of everything this week — a long-awaited ton (and another would-be centurion left in the cold), extraordinary power batting and some clearly defined family bragging rights.

News photographer Rechelle Zammit was on hand at the SJ Perry Shield encounter between Central Park-St Brendan’s and Euroa.

A whole lot of nothing

Sundries opens this week with the exact opposite of ‘extraordinary power batting’.

Katandra’s two-day Clyde Young Shield encounter away at Numurkah started well enough, with the Eagles sending the Blues to the sheds for 154.

In response, however, the plan was clearly to make all the runs next week.

Opener Bailey Simpson in particular batted like he had no other plans and patience did not pay off in this case.

Nicholas Dowell struck twice late in the day, removing Simpson for a grand 22-ball duck.

Ultimately, the straightest of bats fell flat.

Take cover, all ye who enter

All right, back to the regularly scheduled entertainment.

In fact, there likely wasn’t anything regular about the almighty numbers put up by Karramomus’ Andrew Hawker when the Bloods batted first in an SJ Perry Shield one-dayer at Tatura.

In less than ideal circumstances at 2-14, Hawker strolled out to meet David Mollison and what ensued looked more like Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby than the exploits of a 10th-placed Karramomus outfit.

No fewer than 19 sixes off Hawker’s bat — and four fours, just so the fielders didn’t feel left out, we presume.

Hawker’s sheer force brought him to the lofty heights of 158 with a strike rate of 200 before his dismissal by James Collett ensured spectators no longer had to fear for their windshields.

The only downside was his teammates not joining the party, with 233 eventually Tatura’s target — which was chased down with a ball to spare.

Family fortunes far apart

Over to another Perry Shield clash now, where at least some prolific power hitting had company.

Central Park openers Andrew Crossley and Travis Beck decided to go it alone, more or less, in batting first against Euroa.

The two managed to achieve near-total parity, each raising the bat twice and providing 17 boundaries apiece along the way.

Moments after completing his ton, Crossley would become the first to fall, but at least the job was done, right?

Andrew’s son Jayden would replace his dad at the crease, all set to continue the good family work.

He might as well have walked right behind his dad to the pavilion, though, dismissed for a golden duck.

Safe to say, we likely know who was buying that night.

On the plus side, the Tigers defended their total with ease, coasting to a 97-run win.

Singh-ing the blues

Karramomus had its batting gloves on in its Jim McGregor Shield affair at home to Mooroopna, to be sure.

Jagjeevanjeet Singh and Rajendra Arekalmane exemplified this with more than a hint of aggression in their middle-order partnership.

Though Arekalmane brought the muscle, strong-arming 32 of his 34 runs from finding or clearing the rope, Singh soon took the headlines.

A century was within reach as Singh took the strike ahead of the final over at 89, but a single appeared to dash those lingering hopes.

Though Singh would be granted the final four balls to face, five runs left him out of time and out of luck, forced to settle on 95 not out as the innings closed.

To make matters worse, just four Mooroopna batters were required to chase down a typically imposing total of 251, with three knocks of 60 or greater in the Cats’ victory.

One (hundred) to savour

Closing out this full-blooded edition of Sundries is the classic question: How many 90s must a man walk down, before you can call him a centurion?

A meeting between Nagambie and Kyabram in the Whitelock Shield provided us our answer at last.

Ninety-six had been a cursed number for Redbacks opener Paul Wickham; this season alone, he has experienced the misery of falling on this number twice.

In his quest for four more, Wickham reached the cursed mark once more and put a gettable ball in the air — but this time, fate smiled upon him, with the catch dropped and the dream alive.

Wickham would not be denied as the third time became the charm — but with six fours and a huge 11 sixes, this was no fluke outing as the Redbacks notched an eight-wicket win.

A story of hard luck at the crease and a significant scare on 96 capped with a fairytale ending in a successful run chase this is cinema.