A CHANCE glance at the scoreboard prompted Haddon captain Shaun McArthur to pull stumps in a selfless and fitting tribute to fallen Australian batsman Phillip Hughes.
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McArthur, well past a double-century in his own run tally, sacrificed a bid to reach a club batting record in Ballarat Cricket Association district division two play on Saturday.
Haddon's tally was 408 runs with 63 overs played - Hughes' Test player number and 63 was the number of runs Hughes had made when he was felled on Tuesday in a Sheffield Shield match.
The spur-of-the-moment gesture was warmly supported by McArthur's Haddon teammates and rivals VRI Delacombe.
McArthur bowed out unbeaten on 220 runs, just 11 runs shy of the club batting record with about 15 minutes' play left for the afternoon and four Haddon wickets in hand.
Haddon spokesman Vincent McDonald said that, initially, everyone wondered what McArthur was doing when he called an end to play, but they then realised the significance of the scoreboard.
"Everyone walked up and shook his hand," McDonald said.
"It was a chance innings. You can't plan to have scores like this 220 runs for a player and 480 (total) in the standard of cricket we play.
"Shaun must've just noticed the score and thought, 'That'll do'."
Like all BCA matches on Saturday, Haddon and VRI Delacombe players wore black armbands and observed a minute's silence before play.
Both captains spoke briefly, encouraging the players to enjoy the game in Hughes' memory.
Hughes died in hospital on Thursday after failing to regain consciousness when he was struck on the back of his head by a ball.
Meanwhile, VRI Delacombe is 41 runs short, three wickets down, of catching Burrumbeet after day one in BCA's district division one at Alfredton.
Dunnstown has also launched its chase of Buninyong's 130 runs. The Towners are 4-49 at home.
Mick Nolan (146 runs) and Noel Heafield (51 runs) anchored Ballan's 332-run innings against Lucas with a 111-run stand for the second wicket.
Lucas' Andrew Hill carried the bowling load, taking 7-62.
Creswick Imperials have lost three wickets for 83 runs to start their chase of Laanecoorie-Dunolly (149 runs) in Maryborough District Cricket Association A-grade.