Kyabram lands finals place after pulling off astonishing outright victory against Karramomus

Only an outright win over Karramomus would’ve given the Redbacks a sniff - and even then, passage to the top six wasn’t guaranteed.

However, Kyabram’s bolting 16-wicket haul on day two, paired with some snatch-and-grab hitting, landed the unthinkable as Jackson McLay’s men shocked the pack.

“Obviously we needed a fair bit to go right,” McLay said.

“We took 6-30 at the start of the day and that gave us a good sniff. We had the belief that we could go in and bat for six overs...the boys batted brilliantly.

“We didn’t want to put too big of a score on the board, we wanted to keep Karra interested which allowed them to try and win the game but it also brought us into the game.

“We had to risk losing to get the full result which is what we needed to make finals. It was a fairly big risk but the reward was worth it.”

Karramomus began the day on 4-67 and held the Redbacks’ quicks at bay as the Bloods only lost two wickets during the opening hour.

Then, off steamed the crazy train.

Angus McKenzie found himself on a hattrick after dismissing Nathan Jones and Satwinder Singh in consecutive deliveries, knocking over the first domino as a bevy of Bloods’ batters walked shortly after.

Kyabram’s furious flurry dropped Karramomus on the canvas for 96, and when captain Kyle Mueller opted to bat again, jaws were undoubtedly on the floor.

However, the doubters soon changed their tune.

Mueller (31 off 18) and opening partner Paul Parsons (27 off 18) enacted a boundary hailstorm which led the Redbacks to 0-58, and in a flash, Karramomus was back out to bat.

Yet when the Bloods ticked over to 2-51, Kyabram’s season was in serious jeopardy.

The dream was slipping away, and the Redbacks needed a hero.

Enter Billy McLay.

McLay, who tends to feature sporadically in the bowling, picked up a rapid-fire treble of wickets alongside one for sibling Jackson as the Bloods shipped 4-11, re-routing the course of the game in a flash.

From there, Charlie McLay whisked through the tail to leave a hapless and dumbfounded Karrarmomus on its knees - all out for 118, stranded 16 runs short of victory with only five overs remaining.

Coach McLay lauded three of his players’ efforts in the ripsnorting win, identifying the form of Angus McKenzie as pivotal alongside his brothers’ cameos.

“Angus McKenzie is the one; he’s had a pretty frustrating last two years with injury and this game, he was back at his best,” McLay said.

“He’s probably the quickest bowler in the league when he’s on. He put his body on the line, he really ran in and let it rip and he walked away with five wickets for the game.

“There weren’t too many batsmen coming forward on the front foot, so he had that fear factor in the back of their minds and gave us a really good sniff.”

Now, as the madness settles, Kyabram must do it all again in the first round of finals to make Saturday’s Houdini act worthwhile.

The Redbacks travel to meet Mooroopna on its backyard, and McLay is quietly confident of his men’s chances following their barnstorming run of form after winning six of the last seven clashes.

“You know what you’re going to get from Mooroopna; they play a hard brand of cricket,” he said.

“We feel like we’re in really good touch; we’re finding different ways to win. Come finals time, you can’t rely on the same blokes or the same way to win.

“I know we’ve only scraped in by the skin of our teeth, but that’s probably more to do with the start of the season, not the way we finished.

“I reckon we’re going to give it a good shake.”