Charlie McCallum celebrates a wicket with Junior Country Week teammates.
Local representatives made an impact in several Junior Country Week cricket fixtures last week.
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While none of the local junior teams ended the week with Country Week titles, the Murray Valley Cricket Association’s under-17s and under-15s sides made their respective grand finals.
The under-13s team narrowly missed out on a grand final spot by percentage.
Regardless, there were many positive performances for the local players to take away from the week.
In the under-17s boys, MVCA was the only team to go undefeated from their three pool matches before the grand final.
The side beat Goulburn Murray by 15 runs, Bendigo by nine wickets and Seymour by eight wickets before losing to Shepparton in the T20 grand final by 30 runs.
In the side was Deni representative Charlie McCallum, who took two wickets in the first game and a catch in the second.
He bowled important overs for the side across the four matches.
The MVCA under-16s won their first match, a nail-biter against Seymour by three runs, before losing to Goulburn Murray by 85 runs and Bendigo by 12 runs.
Rhinos’ spinner Ted Wren took four wickets, with at least one in every match, as well as runs at the top of the order.
Deni’s Fletcher Campion also made runs up the order, top-scoring for his side with 18 runs in the match against Goulburn Murray.
The other grand final side, the under-15s, got through to the final after winning their first two matches.
They defeated Shepparton by five wickets and Seymour by eight wickets, but lost the T20 pool match against Goulburn Murray by 24 runs.
They then lost the T20 final by 52 runs to Bendigo.
The side did not feature any Deni players.
Charlie McCallum getting a wicket bowled for MVCA in Junior Country Week.
The under-14s boys side were not as fortunate, but still had some of the closest results of the competition - including a tie.
The side lost to Goulburn Murray by 72 runs and Bendigo by nine wickets.
The tie came in the T20 against Shepparton, with 83 runs each, and with MVCA creating a run out in the field off the last ball of the match.
Captain of the side Daniel Burn - who is from Blighty but plays with Tocumwal this season - performed well for his side.
He reached double figures with the bat in each match opening, including top-scoring for his side with 18 against Bendigo and 35 against Shepparton.
He also took three wickets with his bowling and created a run out in the field.
The under-13s were unfortunate to not make the final based on percentage, after proving themselves as one of the top three sides in the age-group for the week.
While losing their opening match to eventual final winners Bendigo by 113 runs, they won against Goulburn Murray by eight wickets and Seymour in the T20 by 25 runs.
Rhinos Ned Wettenhall and Henry Pisasale both took a wicket each in the final two round-robin matches.
While the under-12s weren’t able to win a match, there were some good performances from the local juniors.
They lost by 59 runs to Goulburn Murray, by four wickets to Bendigo and by 71 runs against Shepparton.
In the opening match, Deni’s Charlie Eastman was the second top scorer for his side with 37.
Charlie also took a wicket against Bendigo.
Fellow Rhino George Pisasale was the leading wicket taker for his team in the third match, with two wickets and a catch in the first game against Goulburn Murray.
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