Gallery | Karramomus notches double century for the third straight outing in Haisman Shield clash with Old Students

The two sides’ reasons to take positives out of what that toil under the hot Saturday sun brought them are vastly different, however.

For the third straight occasion in two-day play, the Bloods were setting the pace on the scoreboard — this time at the Students’ request — and captain Mitch McGrath had clearly decided now was the time to put bowlers on notice.

It had hardly been a sparkling season with the bat for McGrath, his only other notable knock coming against Waaia in round two, but an ever-patient innings was being built brick by brick.

He and Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe had the home side in the early ascendancy on a day where few batting teams across the Haisman Shield looked like favourites for most of the afternoon, but Liam Callegari had other plans.

Last season, in this corresponding fixture, Callegari smoked Karramomus at will in an extraordinary nine-wicket haul and he had similar designs in mind again once he got a sniff.

McGrath watched Callegari remove his first partner ... then his second ... then third ... and to cut to the chase, the dynamo removed six men single-handedly in a mighty spell as the Bloods’ skipper watched on.

However, on marched McGrath notching five boundaries and gutting the rest out in soaking up more than 30 overs off his own bat, which he deservedly went on to raise.

Even he had to meet his fate eventually, but it was James Carr who chipped in with the pivotal scalp before Callegari notched his seventh of a remarkable innings to retire Lachie Keady and end the day with Karramomus all out for 212.

That hardly dampens McGrath’s spirits, though, with the red and yellow outfit now having notched scores of 200 or greater in its past three batting innings.

“We’ve taken a massive step forward with the bat this year,” McGrath said.

“It’s slowly starting to click. The boys have put a mountain of work in.

“It was a pretty hard slog out there, but it was nice to get on the end of a few. You certainly take that in getting a decent score, but I might have left a few out there too.

“We weren’t sure how the pitch was going to play with all the rain around, but we’re pretty happy with it.

“It’s good to see, but we have to make sure we do a job with the ball.”

There is certainly some unfinished business after their impressive tally against Kyabram proved insufficient, while the Central Park-St Brendan’s affair goes down as a mystery following the previous weekend’s washout.

Where the star man on the other side was concerned, though, McGrath respected Callegari’s handling of business.

“He’s a good player and he’s got a deadly wrong-un,” McGrath said.

“Our deck just seems to suit him. It’s good to see him go about his work and he bowls some pretty unplayable ones sometimes.”

That all sits as old news come this Saturday, however, when the Bloods attack sets out to complete the task which eluded it against the reigning premiers.

“It’s probably still 50-50,” McGrath said.

“They’ve got some good bats in their side, but it’s always good to have runs on the board.

“I wouldn’t say we’re streets ahead or anything; we know we have to be on our game next week and we let it slip against Ky.

“We need to bowl disciplined areas and, hopefully, that gets us our first win.”