The opening day of the Cricket Shepparton 2022-23 campaign was filled with plenty of eye-catching performances across the four lower grades of play.
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Saturday Sundries are all the extra highlights from the weekend’s cricket — from the top runs scorer, to the best bowling figures and anything else of interest from the district grounds.
To make sure we don’t miss any classic moments, why not message Shepparton News Sport on social media or email us at sport@sheppnews.com.au
Below are the some of the highlights from Saturday’s action you may have missed.
Savio raises the bat
The first ton of the Cricket Shepparton season was registered on Saturday afternoon as Katandra defied Old Students in the Whitelock Shield encounter at Kialla Park.
Katandra batter Callum Savio crunched an unbeaten 108 in his side’s seven-wicket triumph.
Chasing Old Students’ total of 189, Savio had a day out on the small confines of the hard-wicket oval at Kialla Park.
Batting at number four, Savio recorded 10 boundaries and smashed seven sixes from his 77 deliveries.
Savio and teammate Ross Hopkins (44 runs) partnered up with a match-winning 124-run stand.
What made Savio’s knock that little bit more intriguing is that the E-grade hit-out was his first game back in the whites for a number of seasons.
Savio last played for Mt Eliza in the 2019-20 summer and Saturday was his debut appearance for the Eagles.
Saturday’s century was the third of his career.
Close, but no cigar
The first day of lower cricket action had a handful of results all go down to the wire.
But there was one where the two sides had to share the points.
The Jim McGregor Shield encounter between Pine Lodge and Central Park-St Brendan’s will need to take some serious beating as the match of the season after the game ended in a tie.
The Tigers opted to bat first and a Matt Chilcott half-century (51) ensured his side was able to reach a defendable target of 168.
Needing 169 for victory, Pine Lodge was cruising at 2-132, until disaster struck and four wickets fell for 15 runs.
The Lodgers regrouped and looked set on victory.
Needing one run to win from two deliveries, Gurinder Singh broke Pine Lodge’s hearts with a jaffer that dismissed Rory Duffy and ended the match in a tie.
Pine Lodge’s Zac Clark-Lines was at his best with 57 runs, along with opener Travis Knight (51).
In the Clyde Young Shield, two matches were separated by one wicket, while in C-grade Invergordon defeated Old Students by one-wicket.
In D-grade, all four games were decided by narrow margins.
Pine Lodge walked away a one-wicket victor, Northerners escaped to win by 14 runs, Karrammous survived by 22 runs and Numurkah held on by two wickets.
Andre posts giant innings
Andre Gagliardi showed experience beyond his years on Saturday.
The teenager notched the highest score of his career in Old Students’ thrilling B-grade triumph at Kialla Park.
The hosts were tasked with chasing down Shepparton United’s 8-160, however, on a spicy pitch things got a bit dicey in the latter overs of the contest.
With his side 8-133, the youngster held his nerve with a crucial unbeaten 45 as Old Students reached the target in the 43rd over with one wicket in hand.
Gagliardi was rock solid out in the middle and proved the difference between the two sides.
Happy Gilmour
Waaia got its E-grade season off to a flyer thanks to a masterclass effort from Kaleb Gilmour.
Riding the wave of Gilmour’s stunning 6-13 exploits, the Bombers rolled through Mooroopna for 103 runs before triumphing by one wicket.
Gilmour nabbed his first five-wicket haul and career best figures from 7.1 overs.
Ezard-work, not for Blake
Nagambie’s Blake Ezard is fast making a name for himself.
The teenager collected his second five-wicket haul of his short 53-match career in the Lakers’ tense and narrow B-grade win over Pine Lodge.
After he was tossed the new ball, Ezard went on to chalk up 5-34 from 8.2 overs as Nagambie dismissed the Lodgers for 152.
Nagambie survived a late scare and scored 9-153 with six balls to spare.
Ezard’s best bowling figures remain his 5-3 efforts in under-14s.
Sports Editor