As the holiday season fast approaches, the John McMahon Shield is winding down for the year, before picking up again in early 2025.
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Oliver Shedden has checked in with all nine A-grade captains ahead of their final fixture before the Christmas break to get their thoughts on the first half and their hopes for the remaining rounds of the 2024-25 season.
This edition, Oliver spoke with Echuca’s Simon Maddox, Moama’s Anthony McMahon and Echuca South’s Jayden Rosin.
Echuca
It’s almost boring how good Echuca is.
Once again, the men in green find themselves at the top of the standings, remaining undefeated after an upset to BLU in the opening round.
Simon Maddox hasn’t dazzled with the bat thus far, coming in down the order and scoring just 11 runs from four innings while only being out once.
But his bowling is more important for Echuca, as he has taken seven wickets as a strong second change option.
Much like most of the teams in the competition, Echuca is attempting to facilitate young talent while also balancing the side with top-end A-grade veterans.
“Cale Edwards has been good with the ball, as well as Ben Henson, who is a 15-year-old leg spinner who made his debut last week and took a few wickets, so that is a bit of a highlight for the club,” Maddox said.
“We’ve got some good kids pushing through, so we will give them some opportunities throughout the back half of the season.
“It is critical that we have young guys coming through because that is what keeps us competitive for years to come.”
Maddox also reflected on Echuca’s strong first half of the season, but despite going into the holiday break with an expected 7-1 record, he said there were things the side would address.
“I think we are going okay. We are winning, which is good, despite being a bit up and down,” he said.
‘We dropped the first game after being rusty coming off footy season, but since then, our best cricket has been excellent. But there are definitely things that need to be worked on.
“We are trying to tighten our lines and lengths with our bowling, just getting our bowlers to bowl to our game plan.
“We also want a couple of big scores. A lot of us get starts of 30s and 40s, but we need our batsmen to turn those numbers into some big scores.”
Moama
When Joel Murphy was ruled out for the season in the opening overs of round one, Moama knew it would take some time to regroup.
Thankfully for the only NSW side in the competition, the Mowers had a star all-rounder waiting in the wings ready to take the reins.
Anthony McMahon has successfully navigated Moama to a comfortable third position heading into the extended break, with the New South Welshmen going from strength to strength.
While McMahon has only recently started bowling again after taking time to recover from an ankle injury, he has been delivering the goods with the bat.
He has tallied a total of 217 runs so far for the season at an average of 36, which is a team high, and is currently coming off back-to-back half-centuries against Leitchville-Gunbower and BLU, with his highest score of 78 scored against the former.
McMahon reflected on his call-up to the captaincy earlier this year and how he enjoys the position.
“I’d probably prefer if Joel was still captain, they’re big shoes to fill, but I think we’ve gone all right in his absence,” he said.
“I enjoy captaining while I am not bowling because it gives me something to think about in the field, which is nice.”
McMahon highlighted Moama’s focus on batting in the lead-up to the break and his relief at making runs in the past couple of rounds.
“Heading into round four we didn’t have anyone over 100 runs, so in the last few weeks we’ve focused on getting a few substantial scores, which we have done,” he said.
“To make nearly 300 in a two-day match, even if we didn’t hold our catches, was nice and will keep us in that top three.
“Because I’m not bowling, if I’m not making runs, I am not really contributing, so it’s been good to get a couple of good scores.”
Echuca South
Despite making the finals last season, the Swans have had a mixed bag of a campaign so far.
Echuca South currently sits just outside the top four on tied points with Leitchville-Gunbower and BLU, but a big win against Moama indicates it can compete with stronger teams.
Jayden Rosin has been leading the side this season as an all-rounder, providing the perfect supporting role to stars Asantha Singappuli, AK Gunathilaka and Rathika Rajakumara.
Rosin has scored a total of 141 at an average of 20, with a high score of 47 coming against Tongala, while also taking five wickets.
Rosin emphasised the Swans’ intent on playing hard to push themselves back into the top four and play finals again this season.
“We obviously would like to be in the top four currently, but we had a couple of close losses early on which made us lose a bit of momentum,” he said.
“Considering we played finals last year, we’ll make a big push for it in the back half of the year to get back into that top four.”
Rosin also highlighted some key performers for his side thus far with his desire to elevate his game in the second half of the season.
“Asantha Singappuli, our best bat, is a little bit out of form currently. Him and I have been training pretty hard, so we should be able to get into it to finish off the first half,” he said.
“AK Gunathilaka has been our standout bowler with the new ball so far. Asantha and Ben Eade have also been bowling well with their spin.
“Rajakumara has been solid in the middle order, but everyone else, myself included, are due for a few runs.
“I’ve been below my best, I’ve only made one good score so far, so I am looking to get a good start in the last round before Christmas. I’ll be opening the batting.”
Cadet Journalist