mmg.com.au

Numurkah run machine Mark Brown was rewarded for his outstanding Haisman Shield season with his first Lightfoot Medal at Kialla Sports Club last night.

Unfortunately work commitments ensured he was not present to accept the award.

A modest man by all accounts, Brown was noticeably proud when speaking about his achievement a short time later.

‘‘I have a pub to run and unfortunately work comes first and being a public holiday I wasn’t able to get there,’’ Brown said.

‘‘I would have liked to have been there, because I was going to be in with a chance.

‘‘It’s a great honour, a lot of very good cricketers have won it over the years (and) to have your name alongside a list of players that are among the best to play in the Shepparton competition is a nice pat on the back.’’

Brown became the first Numurkah player to win the award since Brendan Heffernan in 1987.

The Blues’ skipper tallied a staggering 23 votes out of a possible 39, nine more than Shepparton United star Dwain Vidler in second place.

Central Park-St Brendan’s skipper Brendan Scott and Kialla all-rounder Chris Rendina were a vote further back.

His 849 runs at an average of 84.5 were enough for him to scoop both A-grade batting awards and his 13 wickets helped him score the Cricketer of the Year award.

Numurkah life member Russell Baldi received the Lightfoot Medal on Brown’s behalf and said he was as good a cricketer as he had seen in his 44 years at the club.

Baldi said there was one particular moment this season that summed Brown up as a sportsperson and a person.

During a match against Karramomus, Bloods batsman Taylor Dunning was given out caught, only for Brown to call him back.

The match was washed out and Baldi, who was umpire at the time, awarded Brown a vote for his gesture.

Brown thanked his teammates and everyone at Numurkah for helping the club ‘‘get back on its feet and hopefully moving in the right direction’’.

In other A-grade awards, six-time Lightfoot medallist Chris Keady of Karramomus cleaned up the bowling awards for his 33 wickets at 9.97 and Central Park-St Brendan’s sensation Tyler Larkin was named the Under-23 Cricketer of the Year.

Coach of Cricket Shepparton’s Melbourne Country Week team James Stokes presented Jahlan Lau with the Representative Cricketer of the Year award.