Seymour District Cricket Association, SDCA, competed in Junior Country Week, JCW – the premier representative competition for junior cricketers across the Northern Rivers region.
The competition ran from January 2 to 4 with rain washing out the second day of play.
The SDCA fielded under 13s and under 15s in JCW with the best players from across the competition going head-to-head with cricketers from the Shepparton, Bendigo, Murray Valley and Goulburn Murray leagues.
Players were selected following trials and training sessions before Christmas with representation coming from all junior clubs in the competition.
The under 13s side played four T20 games across the week, while the under 15s players two 45 over one-day games.
Highlights of the week included a huge win for the under 15s against Goulburn Murray.
Batting first, the SDCA put 130 on the board with 42 runs from captain Rory Kennedy.
The 15s then skittled Goulburn Murray for 34 inside 16 overs after an impressive spell of 6/9 from Avenel’s Christian Papi.
SDCA junior development officer Brad Waixel said it was pleasing to see the SDCA’s future stars playing representative cricket.
“Junior Country Week is always a fantastic opportunity for our kids to test themselves against some of the very best junior players in the state,” he said.
“Several players in the Victorian state side have come through this competition and it’s a great standard of cricket.
“We’re seeing some fantastic signs of revival in our junior cricket program and the next step in this process is seeing our young guns playing rep cricket.
“The growth we saw in players after this week is amazing and we always look forward to taking it up to some of the bigger leagues across the region.”
Mr Waixel thanked clubs for their support of JCW through a competitive selection process.
“It bodes well for the future having a really competitive process for places in these teams and even better to be able to get the squads together from across the region for some solid training sessions in the lead up,” he said.
“It’s a big task to get this week together and I’d like to pass on a massive thanks to clubs for nominating players and getting behind this comp as well as our sponsors Koala Cherries, Seymour and Kilmore Toyota, and uniform suppliers are SDC apparel.”
