Just prior to the 2008 Christmas break Northern Districts played University in a Saturday/Sunday two-day fixture in steamy conditions at Hollymount Park. Having not registered a win on the table thus far, the Butchers were huge underdogs going into the game.
On the Saturday, 23-year-old Matthew Salakas showed great composure
to score 117 of the Butchers 9-334 on the normally tricky Hollymount
pitch. Supported wonderfully by Brett Murphy (56) and Ean Martin (54) Northern Districts went on to record the highest score at the ground in it's relatively short history.
If Saturday was magical (and likely appearing in a later edition of 50-Greatest-Moments) Sunday would prove to be the
piece de resistance.
University made a solid start in their reply, reaching 30 without loss. Jamal Banfield had been bowling well in support of Lee Clouten's terrifying pace - but in three balls he completely turned the game on it's head.
Recognizing the need for change, rookie Captain Brett Murphy decided to employ two short cover fieldsmen. The Uni batsman immediately obliged by mistiming chances in that direction. Fielders Martin and Clouten gleefully accepted the offering and suddenly Banfield was on a hat-trick.
The catches themselves were excellent - the first was traveling and snagged high while the second was just grabbed as Clouten went low and managed to get his fingers between turf and ball.
The Butchers were jubilant for an excited Banfield, but what was to follow was amazing. Banfield's hat-trick ball was a beauty, an in-swinging yorker which struck Luke McGregor (0) on the foot, caught the toe of the bat on the follow through and ballooned to mid-on.
The entire field went up in pleading unison for the LBW appeal, a very good shout at the best of times (Banfield is still adamant to this day that the batsman was adjacent). As time stood still for three or four seconds, Lee Turner abandoned his query and sprinted from mid-off to mid-on and pulled off a sensational diving catch.
Just as the Butchers reached that moment they felt their appeal had fallen on deaf ears, Turner was intercepting the cherry behind the action. The Umpire had been watching intently and satisfied the ball had been fairly caught, raised his finger...
The scenes were nothing short of electric as blue and white absolutely mobbed their left-armed hero. Those watching from the Clubhouse screamed praise as the euphoric scenes unfolded before them.
When the dust had settled, what was left was the realization that Banfield had knocked over Uni's top three with an expert display of left-arm swing bowling. It was his first hat-trick and the first time he had grabbed a five-wicket haul in any grade.
The Butchers went on to record a resounding 133 run victory in a weekend that clearly belonged to Matthew Salakas and Jamal Banfield. The hat-trick that carved up Uni, easily a Butcher Greatest 50 Moment.
The # in the title of this article in
no way represents the ranking of the 50 Greatest Moments - it merely
represents the order in which the article was submitted.
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