He’s a man in tremendous form, having last been denied multiple wickets all the way back in round five’s defeat to Central Park-St Brendan’s.
Hardly coming from the clouds, the fast bowler has asserted himself again as a pre-eminent force in Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield circles with a five-wicket bag against Karramomus Saturday.
Shannon used the Vibert Reserve pitch to the fullest advantage, decimating the Karramomus top order with unflinching intensity and collecting four scalps just 19 balls into his opening spell in an extraordinary display.
THE GAME
Karramomus 119 (Mitchell McGrath 41, Ryleigh Shannon 5-27, Scott Richardson 2-10) v Katandra 3-56 (Andrew Riordan 27*, Corey Hickford 15, Lachie Keady 2-31)
While Karramomus’ batting struggles are generally well understood, their turf was playing host to the Shannon show before anyone could do anything to halt it.
One of the Haisman’s truly red-hot bowlers, the man himself takes a rather modest shining to his recent form.
“Sometimes it just goes your way and, fortunately, all the chances I had went to hand,” Shannon said.
“Sometimes you can go for 20 runs instead of getting those few wickets.
“We were happy with our bowling performance all around and we knew if we could take early wickets, we could be having a hit by the end of the day.
“I think we’re in a pretty good position.”
While Shannon admits the situation is some distance off perfection, being three wickets down at stumps, the remaining 64 runs needed for a simple victory should be an equally simple task.
Beyond that, however, the question of attempting to send Karramomus back in, while situational, is faint but ever-present.
“We’ll start the game with the intention to win first,” Shannon said.
“(Karramomus has) been able to knock teams over, but they’ve struggled to put up the runs.
“It’s a great opportunity to maximise our chances, but we’ll just work on getting the runs and the rest will take care of itself.
“I’d rather be us than them.”
It’s hardly as though another chance to plow through a handful of wickets would necessarily be something to complain about in the form Katandra’s bowlers are in, either.
With the festive break and a bye combining for the Eagles, the team’s focus is locked in.
“It’s good when your body’s feeling fresh and you can build some momentum coming into finals,” Shannon said.
“It’s backed up by the whole team bowling well and the other seamers tend to get their just rewards.”
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