Angus Martin batting for Rochester against Echuca South. Photo: Bruce Povey.
As the holiday season comes to a close, the John McMahon Shield preparing to pick up again on January 11.
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Oliver Shedden checked in with all nine A-grade captains ahead of their final fixture before the Christmas break to get their thoughts through eight rounds and their hopes for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.
For this edition, Oliver spoke with local hopefuls Rochester’s Angus Martin, and Bamawm-Lockington United’s Regis Chakabva.
Rochester
Martin’s Rochy side is perhaps outplaying expectations to start off the season as is sits in second place with a record of 5-1, its only blemish so far coming against Moama.
On top of the captaincy, Martin has been making his fair share of contributions. He is currently Rochy’s leading wicket-taker, claiming 13 scalps so far at 13.6, while also totalling 105 runs at an average of 21 with the bat.
Martin was pleased with Rochester’s performance so far and pointed to the contributions of key under-18s players who have stood up and gained valuable experience in A-grade.
“The results have been pretty good. Everyone has been playing well and are open to new roles,” he said.
“Ollie Williams batted great last week, he is growing, and Cale James, the young guy, is bowling nicely.
“We had William and James Hipwell come across from Cooma last year and Cale, Ollie and Matt Harrington are all getting some good exposure to A-grade as well, which is good to see considering they are all under-18.”
Martin said Rochester was looking ahead to finals but acknowledged the amount of work it would take to not only get there, but to thrive.
“Results are going our way so far, so we are definitely looking at finals, but we have a lot of hard work to go before then,” he said.
“We will be working on developing a bit more batting consistency, getting ourselves in and batting throughout the innings.”
BLU
Regis Chakabva raised the bat after a hard-fought 50 against Echuca South in round four. Photo: Bruce Povey.
Chakabva’s BLU has had an up-and-down campaign thus far in 2024-25, always in the mix but sometimes falling short in contests they were favoured to win.
Yet, the former Zimbabwean national vice-captain continues to deliver for his side, pouring in 358 runs, the most of anyone in the competition from seven innings at an average of 59.66 in an attempt to drag his side into finals contention.
Following a GMC T20 competition championship, the Lions have begun to find better all-round form of late, particularly with the bat in their most recent match against Moama, where Luke Thompson (85) and Cameron Laird (65) showed glimpses.
“It was quite a good win in the T20 competition. I thought we played well and kept talking about being as positive as we could be when we were batting, and our bowlers delivered for us,” Chakabva said.
“It’s obviously a very different format, but from a confidence point of view, we will hold our heads high.”
Chakabva said the first half of the season was used as an opportunity for the side to gel and figure out game plans before heading into the pointy end of the season.
Batting in particular was a focus for the side, which looks to build out around Chakabva in the hopes of consistently posting big scores.
“We are more than halfway through the season now and I think one of the good things is that we are learning a lot as we are going, particularly changing our game plans from one to two-day matches,” he said.
“We have been working a lot on our batting and being able to build partnerships and rotate the strike, just focusing on being a bit more positive.
“So that is something that we will continue to build on after the break. Outside that, our bowling has been great and our fielding has been excellent.”
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