Eyes are starting to shift towards the new cricket season, but on Sunday, a select few of Cricket Shepparton’s luminaries were recognised for head-turning 2024–25 campaigns.

The Victorian Country Cricket League handed out awards at its AGM, honouring the best performers across its sectors from Horsham to Hamilton, Geelong to Gisborne - and the Goulburn Valley.

For starters, Cricket Shepparton boasted two players in the 12-strong VCCL Men’s 2024-25 Team of the Year.

Kyabram’s Kyle Mueller and Central Park-St Brendan’s Jarrod Wakeling made the cut for selection, which was graded solely on statistics during the home and away season.

Right now, Mueller is busy chasing down the 100-goal milestone for Congupna in the Murray Football League.

But he had no trouble cracking the ton with bat in hand for Kyabram.

Mueller boasted 762 runs at 108.86 during the Redbacks’ last campaign, notching four centuries (three not out) and seven knocks of 50 or more, while also chiming in with four wickets.

Meanwhile, Wakeling’s champagne campaign with the ball earned him a spot in the XII.

The Tigers’ spin king racked up 38 wickets at 10.92 during his side’s minor premiership-winning season, which included three five-fors and a dazzling spell of 8-56 that resulted in a 13-wicket match.

It wasn’t only the premier men’s performers who were acclaimed on Sunday.

In the VCCL Women’s 2024-25 Team of the Year, Shepparton Youth Club United’s Lia Beecroft was named among the bowling cohort for an economic year with the ball.

Beecroft snared 17 wickets at 8.82, taking career-best figures of 5-1 while also proving a handy servant with the willow as she posted a respectable 142 runs at 35.5.

But perhaps the biggest accolade was reserved for a player who hasn’t touched a bat or ball in two decades.

Ian Sartori, the former Katandra and Numurkah ace all-rounder, was inducted into the VCCL Hall of Fame alongside four new names set to be immortalised by the board.

A Cricket Shepparton Team of the Century inductee, Sartori is acknowledged as one of the best to have played the game locally.

Now it appears that recognition extends beyond the local region.

Sartori played in six Australian Country Cricket Championships for Victoria between 1991-1996, bestowed the RM Hooper Award as his state’s best player on three occasions.

He also won the ACCC’s overall best player award in 1995, was named in the team of the tournament five times and, as a result, featured against the West Indies, India, Queensland, NSW and WA state sides.

Sartori’s remarkable record at the ACCC included 1360 runs at 41.21, six tons and even a slick spell of 6-82 to rubber stamp his legacy as a great of Victorian country cricket.

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Thursday, 25th May 2023

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