Gallery | Shepparton Youth Club United and Mooroopna have see-sawing day one Haisman Shield duel

Although the two clubs have had an average start to the 2024-25 season, Mooroopna (record of 1-4) went into the match yet to play a two-day game, while Shepparton Youth Club United (1-5) secured its first victory of the season last round in the opening two-day fixture.

United won the toss and elected to bat and, although, the temperature reached 37°C, Mooroopna’s bowlers produced the most heat as the likes of Henry Barrow and Corey Meyer were on the mark from ball one.

The visitor was under the pump from the get-go as Mooroopna restricted the scoring and began to take wickets.

Barrow struck first, ripping through opener Steven Tate for a duck.

Meyer and first-change bowler Will Wood then joined in on the fun to chisel into United’s batting line-up to have the at score 4-19 after 16.2 overs.

Star batter Rehan Bari then steadied the ship for United, scoring an important 20 runs off 38 balls before he was trapped in front LBW by Ryan Hallum.

Ben Greenwood (21 runs off 57 balls) and captain Sam Nash then built a steady partnership which helped avoid a collapse.

Nash was particularly impressive scoring 51 runs off 68 balls (seven boundaries) to top score for his side and give United’s bowlers a competitive target to aim at.

Nash said he was happy he could help push his side to a competitive total with the willow in hand.

“I just needed to dig in when I went in at that position that we were in (5-58),” Nash said.

“I batted with young Ben Greenwood and then the tail-enders all chipped in with me and we got up to a respectable total.

“I was really happy to be able to contribute with the bat, which is something I don’t usually do very often.”

The visitors were eventually bowled out for 132 after 51.4 overs, with Barrow (4-33 from 14) the best with the cherry.

Mooroopna’s response got off to a worrying start with two run-outs in the first 10 overs leaving the host on 2-23.

Another wicket five overs later left the match evenly poised as the two sides went into the sheds at the end of the day’s play, with Mooroopna on 3-48 trailing by 84.

Nash said although he was hoping for a bigger first innings total, to have the match positioned evenly heading into day two is always good.

“From our perspective, we have probably fallen short of what we would have liked to have gotten runs-wise after winning the toss and batting,” he said.

“Credit to Mooroopna they bowled really well — Henry bowled really well.

"It is a brand new wicket at Mooroopna, so we weren’t too sure what it would be like, it played pretty well, was probably a bit two-paced at certain times.

“Overall, it was a good wicket with some really good bowling and probably some poor shot selection, to be fair, from both sides.

“I was pretty happy with how we ended up considering the situation we were in.

“Maybe one or two more wickets for us would have been handy, but we are still in with a chance, which is really good.”

Heading into Saturday, Nash said United would have a simple and aggressive game plan.

“We just have to attack,” he said.

“We attacked pretty hard (on Saturday) and we will just try to use heaps of bowling changes and not let Mooroopna settle as much as we can.

“They will give us chances and we just have to take them, especially with only 80-odd runs to aim at.”