Day one was extremely telling in this clash of red and black outfits, with the home side Waaia falling well short of ambitions with the bat as a resurgent Kyabram went about claiming another victim.
The Redbacks very well nearly did so before stumps, less than 20 runs shy of first-innings points when day one wrapped up, so there was hardly much scoreboard suspense coming into Saturday.
Well, at least not in the overall game sense.
The reigning premiers whizzed past the Bombers’ total with few cares in the world, but once that business was handled, it was time for the main man to take centre stage.
We were witnessing the Goulburn Valley’s two top multi-talents lock horns as Jesse Trower set about trying to spoil Kyle Mueller’s party, but the league’s most potent bat was having none of it.
Having already raised the bat for his half-century before surpassing Waaia, Mueller’s new mission was to overcome the Bombers’ total himself.
Nobody appeared to be on their way to stop him, either.
His various batting partners held firm long enough to set the table for a true holiday feast as Mueller powered through to his ton in typically gung-ho fashion.
Just as quickly as Hayes’ remarkable knock of 144 against Pine Lodge looked to be in danger, it was matched and swiftly eclipsed as Kyabram finally pumped the brakes on proceedings once Mueller notched a blistering 150, capped with nine fours and six sixes.
THE GAME
Waaia 126 (Jordan Cleeland 49, James Carpenter 27, Jackson McLay 3-43) lt Kyabram 7-268 (Kyle Mueller 150*, Jesse Trower 4-81, Liam Evans 2-83)
STAR PLAYER
Kyle Mueller (Kyabram): It’s only fair after posting the new highest score you might see in the entirety of Cricket Shepparton’s realm all season. Mueller gears up for another Vic Country berth in only the finest of form in taking a formidable Waaia bowling line-up to the cleaners.
Coach Jackson McLay had the option to send Waaia in for a potential outright at any time, but explained his rationale in not doing so.
“We thought, with the conditions and the quality of opposition, it wouldn’t go down that way with an outright,” McLay said.
“The pitch was really nice to bat on, so to bowl them out cheaply twice, we didn’t think that was on the cards.
“They had a sponsors day on, so Waaia was more than happy to keep bowling and we were happy to give the middle order some exposure.
“It was probably between Kyle and Mitch (Cleeland). I left it to him to call it and, once he got his 150, he was happy to put his cue in the rack.”
Why wouldn’t you be, after all?
Now of course, nothing is to be taken for granted as the holiday break looms, especially with top side Tatura awaiting to finish the year off.
Having stamped its credentials in a fair few close finishes — look no further than Saturday for example — McLay knows this is a different beast.
“Tat is a really important game for us, as they’re going really well too,” McLay said.
“You can probably judge their improvement on the close games that they’re now winning when they might not have in past years.
“That’s where you grow and they’ve got our full respect, so we’ll go after them pretty hard.
“It’ll come down to who can put runs on the board; Kyle’s obviously in a rich vein of form and hopefully he sticks with it.
“Hopefully he can take that into Vic Country and show how good he is on the big stage.”
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