Cats keep unblemished slate

Beyond that, though, there was a Sunday morning downpour that appeared, to the naked eye, virtually certain to call this one off.

It would have capped what was set to go down as an extraordinarily frustrating spell for the Princess Park natives, who missed out due to an unplayable pitch against Kyabram two weeks ago before having the round five bye.

Staggeringly, the two teams persisted on a swirling and more than humid John Gray Oval at Mooroopna, where the Cats took the initiative with bat in hand and went about the job as if it was bone-dry.

A normally tight combine bowling attack had it all to do against a relentlessly damaging Mooroopna order, with Gemma Boyd yet again providing the benchmark even in such tough conditions.

Given the provision that batters in this competition retire not out after 30 deliveries, Boyd would have considered herself quite unlucky to walk back one run shy of raising the bat after smacking eight boundaries.

Nonetheless, her new season-high tally typically put the Cats in tremendous stead, with Lauren Hall going on to reinforce the latter stages of the innings with an industrious unbeaten 23.

Going at better than a run a ball has become par for course for Jeff Vandermeer’s side, but posting 2-125 had to feel special in this case given the wild weather.

In switching sides, Hall made an equally valuable contribution with the ball despite not yielding a wicket, her three overs giving up an economy of 2.00.

United Skipper Lia Beecroft and primary weapon Mel Saunders were able to see out their 30 balls and work around the early departure of import Sophie Ullah, with wickets still hard to come by for the Cats despite restraining the run rate impressively.

Ultimately, the latter was what counted most as the skies cleared late in the piece, the Cats gladly stopping the visitors 49 runs short and wrapping up yet another impressive win against a high-quality side.

Hall was rapt to claim an important fixture, going three for three in big games after the bye.

“Today was a big one and one we needed to win,” Hall said.

“We had some girls who have stepped up who haven’t been batting or bowling around the top and they did a job today.

“It was good to have Ebony (Sleeth) back as she’s a good performer with the bat and then Gemma only just missed out on 50.

“The pitch was really good for how much water we had. We had to switch on as the wind was a tricky one blowing across the pitch, but it’s sensational here.

“We’re very lucky that we’ve got good facilities like we do.”

Putting the continuation of the Cats’ comfortable strides aside, though, there won’t be any complacency in their camp despite now clearing the most difficult stretch of their fixture with flying colours.

“We want to play strong and we want to win, but anything can happen,” Hall said.

“It’s only 20 overs, so it can change very quickly when you can only face 30 balls.

“We love playing against United as they’re like us; they’re a strong side, committed and local.

“We hadn’t played at home at all, but we’ve had our men’s supporters come and watch, which is great as well.”

The round kicked off much earlier than usual as Kyabram met Cooma in a fiercely competitive Thursday night hit-out.

Breanna Baker was the clear-cut star of the show for the visitors with three wickets and an unbeaten top score of 24 in a successful Cooma chase as the Redbacks remained winless.

In a Sunday border battle at Moama, the host put on some resolute batting as three retired unbeaten in setting 101, but Echuca’s usual suspects had far too much firepower in a big eight-wicket win to correct the green outfit’s losing run.

Speaking of firepower, how about Nagambie?

The Lakers have been swashbuckling and tearing through bowling attacks as they please in recent times, with Kayla Shepherd and captain Kait Carracher completing half-centuries in a monumental 124-run victory over Rochester.

Action between Katamatite and Bamawm-Lockington United never got started after the region’s storms forced its cancellation.