Karramomus’ Zac Groombridge put in a tidy spell in his side’s breakthrough win.
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Rechelle Zammit
Karramomus came into day two of its Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield encounter with Old Students knowing nothing was yet settled.
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The term captain Mitch McGrath had used on multiple occasions after stumps on day one focused on “doing the job with the ball”.
It took all on hand and most of the day, but with no Bloods bowler posting an economy greater than two and a half runs an over, the job was made a lot simpler.
Karramomus' Jayden Dhosi keeps a run saved.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Old Students' Felix Odell and Luke McPhillamy have time for a quick chat.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Old Students' Luke McPhillamy faced a patient 36 balls.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Karramomus' Billy Holmes finished the game off with the ball.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Karramomus' Zac Groombridge gets down to field.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Karramomus' Zavier Davidson fully extends in hopes of preventing a boundary.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Old Students' Felix Odell was likely the player of the day at Vibert.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Karramomus' Billy Jones scoops the ball up.
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Rechelle Zammit
“All on hand” refers not only to the four bowlers who were credited with wickets on the day — plus the efforts of Billy Holmes, who saw the game-ending run out come off his bowling — but six players either taking catches or assisting a run out.
The Students made a solid enough start through openers Sam O’Brien and skipper Callan McCabe, but both would drop short of 20, as did first drop Oscar Lambourn.
That was no problem for four-hitter Felix Odell, however, who shouldered the lion’s share of the day’s play from that point on.
Much like on day one at Vibert Reserve, where Liam Callegari left much of Karramomus’ order dazed with a magnificent haul, Odell provided the role of lone pesky Student preventing the Bloods from jumping away in leaps and bounds.
It was at times resolute, at times explosive as Odell struck the right balance, notching a fine half-century and going steadily on with the job from there with 189 balls against his name by day’s end.
“Disciplined areas” was another of McGrath’s favourite terms last week and you certainly saw a day’s worth of that as Lachie Keady led the line with three poles, the home attack frenetically working around Odell.
Eleven fours and a six provided a fair few highlights on offence for the Students, but their anchor man ran out of allies before himself being run out for a nonetheless sterling 90 as Karramomus closed it out 45-run winners.
THE GAME
Karramomus 212 (Mitch McGrath 69, Luke Forge 29, Liam Callegari 7-68) d Old Students 167 (Felix Odell 90, Lachie Keady 3-33, Zane Newbound 2-39)
STAR PLAYER
Liam Callegari (Old Students): It’s often difficult to award player of the match to the losing team, but Callegari and Odell were the two true individual standouts in this clash. Having claimed 16 wickets in his last two innings against Karramomus, Callegari has found himself a favourite target.
A buoyant McGrath summed it up best post-match.
“The monkey is off the back,” McGrath said.
“We put it on the bowlers and they bent their backs for us today.
“I want to shout out Felix for an unbelievable innings, but we held our nerve and got the job done by being disciplined.
“We just bowled in partnerships, which is what our plan was going into the game. We had to do it ourselves and we held to that to a tee.”
The result couldn’t have come at a worse time for McCabe’s men, who squandered an opportunity to move within three points of a shock top six berth following Waaia’s emphatic defeat at the hands of Kyabram.
That said, Karramomus, finally on the board, has the chance to foster some long-awaited momentum.
Of course, Nagambie will take some stopping and — despite multiple shifts in its listed timeslot online — the game is still set for December 21.
“It’s definitely a confidence-booster. We’ve had a hard run with the top six sides,” McGrath said.
“We knew it would be tough to start and we don’t just want to rest on one; we want to finish the year strongly.
“(Nagambie is) a quality side with a lot of talent there, but if we stick to our guns and find a way, we’ll be in games for long periods of time this year.
