Old Students make opening round statement with victory over Numurkah

Recruit Kepler Lukies, a Victorian under-19 representative, was then struck down with an ACL injury, robbing Old Students of a supreme talent before a single delivery was sent down in the new campaign.

But all of that mattered little when taking to the pitch for round one of the new campaign at the weekend, with the side making the most of the fresh slate to take down a huge scalp in Numurkah at Numurkah Showgrounds, claiming a five-wicket win in a superb start to the season.

Asked to bowl after losing the toss, the visitors were celebrating early as Callan McCabe needed just four deliveries to land his first scalp of the season, bowling Blues opener Dustan Ebborn for a duck and leaving the home side reeling at 1-3 in the opening over.

Things went from bad to worse soon after for the home side, too, as reigning Lightfoot medallist Raguvaran Aravinthan soon found himself back in the sheds, too, having made 13 from his 30-ball cameo in the middle as the Blues slumped to 2-25 at the end of the 10th over.

Opener Dylan Grandell and number four Isaac Chandler set about a recovery mission for Numurkah, though, and for the next 10 overs they looked to be dragging the Blues back into the contest, scoring at nearly four runs per over to reach 2-63 before disaster struck.

Felix Odell swung the game back in Old Students’ favour with a brilliant double-wicket over, snaring the scalps of both Chandler (11) and new batsman Matthew Price, before import Edward Pike compounded the pain for Numurkah in the following over, claiming the wickets of Eash Aravinthan and Kyren Dawson in consecutive deliveries.

From 2-63, the Blues lost 4-1 in the space of nine deliveries, and though Grandell remained at the crease, the home side was never fully able to recover.

Liam Callegari cleaned up the tail, taking 3-27 including the wicket of Grandell for a well-made 41, as Old Students took the final four wickets for only 21 runs, bowling Numurkah out for 108 in 36 overs.

With a rather meagre total to defend, the Blues needed quick wickets to stand any chance of a win, and that is exactly what they got, with skipper Matt Cline bowling Pike in the third over to leave Old Students down 1-11 early.

But it would prove the only shaky moment that Old Students would suffer, as contributions from new recruit Emile Haratbar (27) and Noah Muir (24) ensured the scoreboard ticked over at a steady rate, while Odell (18) was a more than handy contributor, too.

Wickets would fall at a steady rate, but crucially not in clumps, as the visitors scored consistently, and it would be co-captain Oscar Lambourn that hit the winning runs, doing so with a boundary to clinch a massive first up win by five wickets, and over a contender in the Blues no less.

Mitch Grandell would finish as the only multiple wicket taker for the Blues, snaring 2-25, but his efforts were in vain, as Old Students romped to the win.

Numurkah will look to rebound next week when they travel to take on Mooroopna, while Old Students will have the bye.