Sport
13 December, 2025
Cameo appearance sees Leach century cause big upset
JAYDEN Leach returned, briefly, from his lawn bowls sojourn to play for Kingower against unbeaten Boort Yando and promptly smashed 104 from 70 balls to help hand the Magpies their first defeat.
Leach, last season’s Upper Loddon player of the year, had switched to bowls for Inglewood as he managed a bad back, but reappeared for a one-off, incredibly spectacular performance.
“(Captain) Matty (Rowe) called me during the week and said they were playing the top side, and did I want to fill in,” he said.
Leach had promised he would play – just the once – if needed during the season.
“Matty said I was going to bowl too, but I didn’t think that meant opening the bowling.”
With his dodgy back in mind, he halved the length of his usual run up to ten paces, and got through seven overs, only giving away 23 runs as Boort Yando replied with 7-217.
Coming in to bat at number four, with Kingower 2-46, Leach belted 19 fours and a six before departing with his side on 7-235 on its way to an imposing 8-247 from 35 overs.
Leach and David Rose put on 91 runs for the sixth wicket in 12 overs, with Rose hitting 29 from 33 balls.
Some of the Magpies bowlers copped serious stick, with captain James Byrne’s six overs costing 62 runs, Jake O’Flaherty going for 21 in two overs, and Brodie McPherson leaking 20 runs from his two overs.
Veteran Brian Minoguew stood out with 4-40 from seven overs, including the wickets of Kingower’s two top scorers, Leach and Will Deason (35).
The Magpies initially made a great fist of the difficult chase, and a 123-run second-wicket partnership between Josh Smith (91) and Byrne (77) saw them on 2-142 with 10 overs remaining.
However, the rest of the Boort Yando batsmen couldn’t keep up the pace, and the innings petered out 30 runs short of Kingower’s total.
Ben Rose took 3-34 from five overs, Rowe claimed 1-32 from six, and Blake Pickles went for 50 runs from his six overs but picked up the crucial wicket of Smith.
And if Leach gets another call from the skipper?
“At this stage I’m probably going to say no,” he said, admitting that bowls had won him over.
“I love it. It’s so good,” he said of the more sedate Saturday activity.
Remarkably, Leach’s century was the second in the competition by a player appearing in a one-off game, after Bridgewater’s Harry McKinley hit 102 against Arnold in round six when he had a week away from Bendigo cricket commitments.
Kingower’s win cuts Boort Yando’s ladder lead to six points, with the Gower having played one match more.
The abandonment of the Bridgewater Bulls versus Wedderburn Band match due to weather means the Band have missed three rounds in succession – one bye, one forfeit by their opposition, and one match abandoned.
Saturday’s T20 round sees Boort Yando at home to Wedderburn and the Bulls hosting Arnold, with Kingower having the bye in the last round before the Christmas break.