Haisman Shield | Gallery | Central Park-St Brendan’s survive Tatura scare to remain undefeated

This came after Tatura set the foundation for an almighty upset, compiling its first score of more than 200 since February 2021 on the back of handy contributions by Liam Scopelliti (49), Cooper Fawcett (40 not out), Rajvir Singh (40) and Blake Armstrong (35).

But the sign of a champion team comes from its ability to win ugly and, for Central Park-St Brendan’s, that pedigree shone through as it absorbed the pressure and catapulted itself into top spot on the Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield ladder.

“We probably had our worst day of the season with the ball and in the field as well and, add in there they had their best day, and it ended up being a real grind for us,” Larkin said.

“It was good to show some fight with the stick again, the bat has probably saved us the last two games, getting us home against these lower-ranked teams.

“We’ve certainly got some work to do and we’re well aware of that, but to come away with the points yesterday was pleasing.”

Winning the toss on a glorious day at Deakin Reserve Tatura captain Daniel Coombs had no hesitation in batting first on a picture-perfect wicket.

And despite losing their captain early the Bulldogs took full advantage of the conditions as Scopelliti, Armstrong and Singh got going to have them in prime position at 2-130.

After a wayward start the Tigers did peg back the situation briefly, with skipper Brendan Scott (2-25) and Keiran Hogeboom (2-36) combining nicely to inspire a mini Tatura collapse of 4-39.

But some late fireworks by Fawcett swung the game back in the visitors’ favour, with his 40 off 32 lifting them to an imposing 6-221.

“Our lengths were just far too inconsistent,” Larkin said of his team’s bowling performance.

“It was either too short or too full and we bowled something like 15 wides which isn’t us, so we need to give ourselves a bit of a kick up the butt in that department ahead of Waaia next week.”

Needing a strong batting effort to dig themselves out of a first innings hole, the Tigers started well courtesy of a classy 35 by Scott at the top of the order.

Larkin then joined in on the act, proving why he is the competition’s form batter with an elegant half-century to have his team in pole position.

The Tatura bowlers battled hard to curb the Tigers’ class, however, with Singh once again standing up with two crucial middle-order wickets to keep the dream of an upset alive.

But when the game was there to be won, it was no surprise to see Yze rise to the occasion, with the veteran making up for a quiet day in the field with a scintillating unbeaten half-century to see Central Park home with 15 balls to spare.

“You just don’t write off champions like that and one thing he definitely hasn’t lost is his competitive appetite,” Larkin said of Yze’s match-winning knock.

“When he comes in with runs for us to get more often than not he’ll get us home and yesterday was another great example of that.”