Winless Nondies-Cohuna is statistically the most balanced batting order, indicating no player has been able to find form. Photo: Aidan Briggs.
Nine rounds in to an intriguing McMahon Shield season, the Christmas break gives us an ideal opportunity to analyse the action we have seen thus far in Goulburn Murray Cricket’s A-grade competition.
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Cricket, at its core, is a game of bat versus ball, and while an individual can play a starring role in one or several games, to outlast the other sides and succeed consistently, an outfit needs multiple contributors on both sides of the ball.
Indeed, last year’s grand final sides, Echuca and Moama, were arguably the two most balanced line-ups in the competition that season.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how evenly the runs and wickets have been shared within the nine A-grade sides in 2024-25.
Batting
To determine how much a side is relying on a select group of players, we looked at the top three run scorers for each team and compared their total scoring output to the team’s total run tally for the year (excluding extras).
Interestingly, Nondies-Cohuna has relied the least on a star so far, only 42.66 per cent of its runs coming from its top three contributors.
While as discussed, balanced output is a key to success, winless Nondies occupying the top spot unfortunately indicates a side that is struggling for runs across the board, rather than one that is seeing contributions from multiple sources.
Conversely, Rochester, which has shown strong form from the outset after a powerful run home last season, and a much improved Leitchville-Gunbower are the next two on the list, each getting 44.2 per cent of their output from their leading three batters.
BLU is the most top-heavy batting line-up, thanks mostly to a league-leading 413 runs this season from Regis Chakabva. Photo: Bruce Povey.
Bamawm-Lockington United narrowly edged out Echuca for the least balanced batting line-up, 60.24 per cent of BLU’s runs coming from its top three compared to Echuca’s 60 per cent.
The result is hardly surprising given the Lions’ reliance on Regis Chakabva, who is way out in front of the competition with 416 runs this campaign, almost a third of BLU’s season total off the bat.
BLU also trails all but strugglers Nondies and Tongala when it comes to batters with 100 or more total runs this season.
Only four Lions batters have reached that total while Kyabram Fire Brigade is the most balanced batting order by this metric, with six reaching the milestone.
All other teams in finals contention have five players on 100 or more runs, while Nondies-Cohuna has two and Tongala just one.
Worth noting when looking at these and future statistics based on total accomplishments is that the introduction of the bye this year and a washout on the second day of round seven means the number of batting or bowling opportunities for each of the nine teams has not been consistent.
Balanced batting
Share of runs by top three:
1. Nondies-Cohuna: 42.66%
=2. Rochester: 44.2%
=2. Leitchville-Gunbower: 44.2%
4. Tongala: 49.79%
5. Moama: 50%
6. Kyabram Fire Brigade: 50.4%
7. Echuca South: 54.35%
8. Echuca: 60%
9. Bamawm-Lockington United: 60.24%
Bowling
Kyabram Fire Brigade leans heavily on its star bowlers, over 75 per cent of its wickets so far coming from three men. Photo: Bruce Povey.
While it may have a moderately balanced batting attack, depending on how you measure it, Kyabram Fire Brigade is the least balanced of the bowling attacks, the Flames’ top three wicket takers responsible for a mammoth 75.81 per cent of their side’s wickets so far.
At the other end of the spectrum, Leitchville-Gunbower has spread the wickets most evenly, only 54.17 per cent of scalps coming from the side’s top three, confirming L-G as a balanced outfit on both sides of the ball.
L-G also leads the way when looking at players with 10 or more scalps, level with Echuca South on four.
Leitchville-Gunbower is the most balanced bolwing attack in the McMahon Shield this season. Photo: Bruce Povey.
The Swans were actually one of the least balanced attacks (63.16 per cent) but their sheer volume of wickets (76) helped them get four bowlers into double figures.
BLU is grouped with cellar-dwellers Tongala and Nondies as the sides with only one bowler with 10 or more wickets.
