COUNTRY Week cricket is on the horizon again, with the junior divisions participating in the week and the senior divisions gearing up for February.
The Gisborne District Cricket Association competed for the Central Highlands AJ Martin Shield in the under 13s competition and the JDH McKenzie Cup in the under 15s competitions, while play got underway in the Kirton Shield yesterday for the under 17s.
Gisborne performed strongly in both of the divisions in the under 13s competition, with Gisborne Green winning two of their three games, and Gisborne White achieving a similar result.
Both teams were unable to play their grand final against Ballarat due to the scorching hot conditions experienced two weeks ago.
Harrison Wood and Ashton Way performed strongly for Gisborne Green, finishing second and fourth for most runs, while Lochie Freeth, Way and Joshua McCarthy all held the top three spots for most wickets.
Gisborne’s under 15s team had a slightly tougher time. Despite taking a big seven-wicket win against Grampians first up, losses to Ballarat and Castlemaine meant the team finished third out of four teams.
Hamish Peggie scored the most runs for the week, while Austin May took seven wickets to lead the team.
Earlier in the year, the girls played in the Northern Rivers competition, recording some strong results ahead of their Central Highlands Country Week campaign in February.
The under 14s girls played off in the final, with Gisborne Green scoring 4/99 to win by six wickets over Gisborne White, who scored 8/97.
The top six runscorers were dominated by Gisborne cricketers, with Freya Dodd, Chloe Watt, Lily Malone, Eloise Arnup, Indigo Shanahan and Quinn Barnett all performing strongly, while Samantha du Kamp took four wickets to lead seven Gisborne cricketers in the top wicket takers in the competition.
The under 17s cricketers fell just short in the final against Bendigo, losing by 22 runs.
Despite that, Breanna Lane had a great tournament with the bat, leading all runscorers, while Eden Boland took the most wickets for Gisborne with four.
The Seymour District Cricket Association played in the Northern Rivers Region 5 competition, but it was a tough week all round for the competition.
The under 13s had two competitive outings, but lost to Shepparton by eight wickets, and to Murray Valley by 25 runs, while another loss to Bendigo by eight wickets hurt its percentage.
Archie Armstrong led all runscorers, while Campbell Smith and Rafferty Clydesdale took two wickets each.
The under 15s had a tougher time of it, losing all three games by big margins. The best performance the SDCA had was its eight-wicket loss to Murray Valley.
Tyler Caddie led all runscorers, while Nathan Wilkins took the most wickets for the SDCA.
Similarly, the under 17s had no luck in its competition, with its eight-wicket loss to Bendigo its most competitive performance of its three games.
Thomas White performed strongly to score the fourth most runs in the competition, while Patrick Shanahan took the most wickets for the SDCA with three.
Meanwhile, the senior men’s competition is gearing up for Melbourne Country Week, with Gisborne picking its squad, and Seymour getting ready to make a big return to the competition.
Romsey’s Ben Way will be the captain of the squad, and is one of six Romsey players picked in the squad, alongside Louis Moor, Chris Burkett, Aaron Peterson, Thomas Boyer and Taylor Stevenson.
Eastern Hill run machine Benjamin Bryant is also in the squad, as the only Johnstone Shield player selected.
Seven locals were selected in the GDCA women’s squad.
Broadford captain Brooke Jeffery was selected, while Kilmore’s Taylah Logie will also make an appearance.
Lancefield duo Luzanne De Kock and Meaghan Lyons were selected, as was the Wallan trio of Megan Farrell, Kia Montgomery and Terrie Haydon.
The Seymour District Cricket Association will have its selection finalised shortly, but there will be a practice match against Emu Valley on February 8 to warm up for its return to Melbourne representative cricket.
