Hepburn has 16 wickets and 139 runs, while Gillie has eight wickets and 101 runs, the pair leading the champion player award for the competition.
Stanhope sits on top of the C-grade ladder with five wins after the domination of Hepburn and Gillie, along with the support of century maker Lee Rowlands and consistent Shannon Aynsley.
Rowlands is the only C-grade player to have scored a century, an unbeaten 105, and sits fourth on the batting aggregate. Aynsley has an unbeaten 64 in his 117-run tally.
There have been plenty of highlights in the minor grades, among them the hat-trick performance of Kyabram’s Barton Carver.
He has been content to sit back and allow the spotlight to shine on the younger members of his family, that was until his hat-trick taking feat for Kyabram Fire Brigade’s D-grade team.
Jack and Oscar Carver play alongside Barton in the D-grade team, while Riley and Lachlan Carver have also had their share of headlines this season.
Carver’s complicated hat-trick completion was across two overs.
There was a slight delay in celebrations for the left-arm bowler as he took the first wicket — Echuca’s Jonathon Laughlin with the final delivery of the 5th over and then returned to deliver the seventh over — dismissing Jamie Logie and Jeff Maher with successive deliveries to start that over.
Seven Echuca batsmen made ducks in thier innings and only one made it to double figures.
The Carver hat-trick was amid a Kyabram Fire Brigade run, which saw six wickets fall in the space of 14 deliveries.
Rowlands century, also a C-grade one-off, came in a partnership of 116 with Steven Hall in Stanhope C-grade’s win against Bamawm Locking United last week.
In that same game Jacob Gillie took four wickets for Stanhope, although the bowls feats of Hepburn have dominated the news.
He took 4-19 against Fire Birgade and 6-4 in a 4.5 over spell against Echuca South. That was before he scored 40 not out in the run chase.
Tongala batsman Adam Neumann started his season with successive half centuries and has 149 runs at 37.25, second only on runs aggregate to Nondies Jordan Mathers.
Neumann, who opens the batting, scored 53 of his side’s 77-run total in the opening match of the season with Girgarre and then guided his team to victory against Rochester with an a 44-ball, (10 boundary and a six) 60-run tally.
Cooma teenager Hunter Fawcett is fourth in the champion player rankings after taking nine wickets — second only to Hepburn. Simon Doolan from Girgarre also has nine wickets, while at Tongala Kade Northausen has scored 102 runs at 52.
– Girgarre’s Ryley Cowley is the leading all round cricketer in the D-grade competition, averaging 61 with the bat and leading his side to second spot on the ladder at the Christmas break.
BLU star Brett Munro has 128 runs this season, while Tongala pair Scott McKenzie (107 at 53.50) and Steve Townsend (93 runs) sit next on the standings.
Zac McKenzie shares top billing on the wicket taking list with nine, ahead of Michael Schoeman from Cooma (eight wickets) and Barton Carver (six wickets at 6.17).
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