The league’s eldest age bracket suffered a late defeat to Goulburn Murray Cricket, but its earlier demolition jobs of the Wangaratta (101 runs) and Seymour (149 runs) cricket associations were enough to book in a grand final stoush against the Murray Valley Cricket Association tomorrow morning at Moama Recreation Reserve.
Both leagues were dismissed for less than 100, with Central Park-St Brendan’s tweaker Thomas Mellington the chief destroyer in both games.
Mellington had the ball on a string on his way to nine wickets for the campaign at a miserly average under five, his figures of 3-1 and 5-21 launching him to the top of the bowling rankings.
Old Students batter Ben O’Brien, coming in at number nine for the first two games, has also been influential with scores of 65 and 35, averaging 50 on the dot as Archy Harrison (68) and skipper Kyren Dawson (44 and 2-14) spearheaded the Seymour triumph.
Now, an opportunity to claim its first under-17 title in two years awaits Cricket Shepparton in the T20 clash.
Meanwhile, the under-13s will head to John O’Keefe CM Oval in an effort to unseat the Bendigo District Cricket Association on its home turf.
Tatura’s Blake Bunfield has been a force with his all-round nous, his 36 not out in Cricket Shepparton’s eight-wicket win against Seymour and an eye-popping 5-4 and 45 runs in a five-wicket triumph over GMC, reaffirming his standing as one of the players of the tournament.
However, he hasn’t played a lone hand; Northerners duo Braxton Brett and Xavier Tenace have contributed with the bat, and Corey Gibson has been tidy with the ball en route to the decider.
And while it may be tournament over for Cricket Shepparton’s remaining age groups, there’s been no shortage of eye-catching performances across Junior Country Week.
The under-16s suffered tight back-to-back losses of two wickets and 21 runs to bring a close to their title defence, but not before notching a 10-wicket win to finish off their tournament.
They were well-served by Tatura’s Jack Mahoney, who struck more than 100 runs, while Clancy Keenan and Thomas Byers were both in the thick of the action.
Nagambie’s Flynn Bush has struck close to 700 runs for the season across various competitions, and that form-line translated into runs for Cricket Shepparton’s under-15s with two half-centuries and 122 for the campaign.
Remarkably, Shepparton almost defended just 78 runs against Wangaratta on day two as Billy Harrison (3-16) and Anthony Evans (2-25) went on a tear, falling by one wicket.
Their tournament concluded with a resounding 87-run win over the SDCA.
The Shepparton region hosted the under-14 boys competition, and while the host league didn’t come away with a win, they walked away with a point after a dramatic draw with the MVCA in the final round.
Zavier Parsons (70 runs) and Sebastian Garrett (four wickets) led the way for the under-12s as they claimed a final-round win against the MVCA.
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