Junior Country Week is done and dusted for another year with local players well represented in the teams for the Murray Valley Cricket Association (MVCA).
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Unfortunately, none of the MVCA teams were able to achieve results similar to the past few years but they did succeed in pushing to the last five overs in the majority of the matches.
Andrew Smith, Hamish Baker, Sam Crossley and Charlie Bull were the local lads in the under 15s team.
With six teams in the comp, MVCA drew the two strongest teams who were eventual grand finalists.
The first match was an away game against Seymour.
MVCA lost the toss and were sent in to bat.
The pitch was lively, the ball was swinging and seaming.
The team lost wickets steadily, all out for 106.
Sam Crossley was the second top scorer with 10 runs.
Whilst we didn’t get the same movement bowling, the boys bowled tightly restricting Seymour’s scoring and getting a steady stream of wickets.
Charlie bowled four overs, with one wicket for 11 runs.
Hamish bowled five overs with one wicket for nine runs, and Sam bowled one over and conceded only one run.
Unfortunately, Seymour was able to chase down our total with five overs to spare.
The next two days were home games in Nathalia.
First up was the competition runner-up Shepparton, who won easily the previous game with 15 overs to spare and only losing two wickets.
We again lost the toss and Shepparton batted first.
The team performed well in the field, getting Shepparton all out for 93 runs.
Sam bowled five overs taking 1/18 and Hamish bowled five overs taking 1/20.
Sam and Andrew opened the batting and got the team off to a great start with 25 and 13 runs respectively.
They looked in great touch, scoring at 4.5 runs an over.
When Andrew then Sam were dismissed, Murray Valley were not able to get any partnerships going.
The side lost wickets regularly and fell short of the target, all out for 75 runs.
The last game was against eventual winners Bendigo.
MVCA were determined for a better showing with the bat.
We lost the toss and Bendigo elected to bat.
Having scored 8/255 and 6/250 their previous games, Bendigo were full of confidence and got off to a quick start.
Charlie took the first wicket getting a caught behind, leaving Bendigo at 1/60.
In the next over, Hamish got the tournament’s best batter out for 30, caught behind off a cross-seamer that got some extra bounce.
He had scored 59 and 100 (not out) the previous two games.
MVCA tried hard in the field, and at the end of the 45 overs Bendigo were 5/235.
Hamish bowled six overs taking 1/32, Charlie four overs with 1/18, Sam two overs with 0/20 and Andrew four overs for 0/31.
Andrew and Sam were unable to get the start they wanted with the bat, with Andrew falling cheaply.
Sam and Charlie were looking good until Sam was bowled for 17.
Charlie had his best innings of the tournament and was batting well.
He hit a huge six over long on, which was called as a four, and was eventually bowled by one of Bendigo’s spinners for 20.
MVCA were all out for 137, which was our best total over the three days.
Andrew, Hamish, Sam and Charlie should all be proud of their efforts over the three days.
Andrew and Sam faced some tough bowling at the top of the order and both contributed with the ball.
Charlie found some form with the bat and also bowled well getting two wickets.
Hamish worked hard to not give his wicket away when batting, in the second game scoring three runs off 27 balls.
He bowled a good line and length, getting three wickets for the week.
Andrew and Hamish backed up their performance on Saturday for Rhino’s C-grade against Cobram.
In the under-13A competition, Deniliquin cricketers Ted and Oscar Wren both performed well.
Ted did particularly well bowling, snagging three wickets at an average of 7.67 and taking a catch.
Oscar took two catches.
Charlie McCallum was the sole Rhinos player in under-14s.
He bowled tight lines and got four wickets at an average of nine runs, plus taking a catch and getting a run out.
Charlie Paton and Jake Herberte were the standout performers for the under-16s team.
Charlie scored 44 runs and Jake 31.
Charlie bagged eight wickets at an average of 7.75 whilst Jake toiled away opening the bowling against quality opening batters, getting two wickets at 37.5.
Both performed well in the field with Charlie and Jake taking four and one catches respectively.
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