It’s late in the summer, but there is still home-and-away fixtures to play in Cricket Shepparton’s Haisman Shield.

English international Dylan Hardy has more than settled in his first season down under, cracking a ton in round one, with a pair of 50s to follow.

Off the field, he feels at home too, becoming close with many from his club Pine Lodge, but also the likes of Old Students’ Oscar Lambourn, Central Park-St Brendan’s’ Sam Holland and Rory Duffy and Karramomus’ Zavier Davidson.

It was the latter that directly asked the question of if the Lodgers’ leading run scorer would make the team switch upon return later in the year to Australia.

“If we go back to the end of last year, I’d become mates with a few of the boys outside the team, and we hung out away from cricket too,” Hardy said.

“One day ‘Davi’ just mentioned it (changing clubs) towards the end of the season.

“I had a think about it, but I wanted to wait until the season finished.

“When the season was done, I spoke to Pine Lodge about it, and they were okay with it to go ahead.

“Everything was done in the right way and I’m thankful for everything they’ve done for me, especially their president Trav Waters, I still speak with him often and I lived with him last season.”

Now, the finals-finishing Bloods of the 2025-26 season are bolstered with an extra prolific run-scorer - and also a handy wicket-taker too.

While the runs haven’t flowed quite yet for Hardy this summer, he’s made up for his dismissals by dismissing the opposition.

Career-best figures of 6-26 caught the eye in round one, but Hardy proved it was no fluke with 2-12 and 3-24 in the following one-day games.

While a sharp rise compared to last summer, it hasn’t been a sudden development for Hardy.

The Bloods star tirelessly honed his spin craft in England during Australia’s winter for Mildenhall Cricket Club in the East Anglian Premier League, one of the country’s best competitions.

“I made the effort because I wanted to get a lot better,” he said.

“I was just bowling all the time, over and over at the premier batsmen at Mildenhall.

“It seems to have made a difference so far.”

However, Hardy admits it’s “no secret” why Karramomus lured the former Lodger to don the red and gold.

A top order bat, Hardy is chasing runs, but even in a slow start to the year, Karramomus is three wins without loss, as the Bloods’ other star bats shoulder the load.

“It’s no secret they brought me over here to score runs,” Hardy said.

“Hopefully I can get rolling with a few more on the board this weekend.

“But I knew Zavier last year, we had great banter between us so it’s been great to now play alongside him.

“Mitch (McGrath) is just class, he’s had an unreal start to the year.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s topping the runs for the league at the end of the season.”

Red ball cricket is upon the Haisman Shield now, with Karramomus’ first turn in the whites coming up against Katandra, and Hardy is keen to get stuck in.

“I’m really looking forward to it, Katandra is one of my favourite grounds to play at,” he said.

“It’s nice winning games, we’ve had a great start to go 3-0.

“We think we can be up there with the best, we beat Central Park last week so we think we’re proving we can beat the top teams.

“Hopefully we can get another win this match.”

Hardy’s Bloods take on the Eagles from 12.30pm on Saturday at Katandra Recreation Reserve in round four’s day one.

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Sunday, 9th August 2026

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