Haisman Shield | Nagambie keeps ‘slim hopes’ of playing finals alive

In front of a packed house, enjoying the club’s Pink Stumps Day, at Nagambie the Lakers defended their third highest total of the season in the round 12 encounter.

A quality all-round team performance helped the Lakers post 7-155 from 45 overs, with Zac Winter-Irving the main man with a crucial 33 at the top of the order.

Waaia, which could have almost locked in finals action, was unable to get the ball rolling in the run chase and despite a sublime knock from captain Mitch Cleeland (49 runs) the visitor was trundled out for 136 and recorded its fifth loss of the Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield campaign.

Nagambie has jumped into seventh spot and now sits one point behind sixth-placed Waaia with two rounds left in the summer.

“We knew we had to win that game. It keeps our slim hopes of playing finals alive,” captain Mark Nolan said.

“I think it was one of our best performances of the season. Definitely our best all-round game with bat and ball. It was just really good to be able to get a win under the belt ... we had about 100 ladies up top on the deck and then a few more people down below. It was definitely the most people I’ve seen down there

“All in all it was a very successful day for the club.”

Nagambie elected to bat first and with a star-studded bowling outfit to contend with, did an almighty job to reach 50 runs without a loss of wicket.

Openers James Auld (21 runs) and Winter-Irving strung together an important 54-run stand which alleviated some pressure on the middle order.

There was no real standout with the willow in hand and, although his side scored “a good total”, Nolan believed if one batter had of went on with their start the Lakers would have reached a “difficult score to chase down”.

“I thought we got off to a good start with the bat. Waaia have two quality bowlers and to reach 50 without a loss of wicket was really good,” Nolan said.

“I was pleased we were able to ground it out to 155, but it was a bit disappointing that we didn’t have someone go on and score a big total which would have helped us reach 170-180.”

With 155 on the scoreboard, Nolan knew his side had more than enough to work with.

Led by the Nagambie skipper, the home side was ruthless with ball in hand and had Waaia 2-16 and with both openers in the shed.

Nolan (3-21) and Brayden Biggs (3-31) bowled tight lines and restricted the scoring efforts of the Bombers’ top-order.

Jeewan De Silva (3-27) contributed during the middle overs, while Cleeland went down fighting with a brilliant 49 off 57 balls and lifted his side to within 30 runs of victory.

But a ripping delivery from Nolan sent his counterpart packing and the next three wickets fell for a miserly 10 runs which sealed Nagambie’s much-needed triumph.