Sport
4 January, 2024
Country Week kicks off again for 2024, with under 13s and under 15s taking centre stage
Country Week cricket has kicked off for 2024, with the Maryborough District Cricket Association under 13s and under 15s moving into the second half of the competition. Unfortunately for both teams, Tuesday’s big storm washed out their first game...
Country Week cricket has kicked off for 2024, with the Maryborough District Cricket Association under 13s and under 15s moving into the second half of the competition.
Unfortunately for both teams, Tuesday’s big storm washed out their first game, and with the under 15 team having a bye in their second round of the McKenzie Cup, means that they are in the process of completing their first full game against Grampians at Tatyoon Recreation Reserve at the time of production.
The under 15 team were well in the hunt against Gisborne White on the first day of competition at Hedges Oval.
Oliver Cassidy gave Maryborough the perfect start, clean bowling Gisborne White’s Hunter Jackson with the very first ball of the match.
However, Gisborne White slowly got into the game, and despite Kolby Haley taking the second wicket to have their opponents sitting at 2/36, they would soon take control.
Thomas Andrew and Tom Mousley were able to put on a 83-run partnership to help get Gisborne White to 2/119, but to Maryborough’s credit, they were able to reduce the rate of scoring, while also taking wickets.
First, Axel Purcell was rewarded with a wicket when he lured Mousley into playing a shot straight to Tom Grant, and not long after, Haley had his second wicket, with Cassidy taking an outstanding catch to remove Oscar Kruss Alexander.
Haley soon had his third wicket, clean bowling Andrew for 41, before Grant was in the thick of it to run out Samuel Alford.
Gisborne White eventually finished their innings on 6/164 from their 45 overs.
Haley led the way with a supreme bowling stint, taking 3/16 off seven overs, which included four maidens, while Cassidy took 1/15 and Purcell 1/17.
But with the enormous storm rolling in prior to Maryborough’s innings, the game was abandoned without a ball bowled in the second innings.
Meantime, Maryborough’s under 13 team had a tricky task against Ballarat Blue in their first game for the Martin Shield at Jubilee Oval.
Batting first, Ballarat Blue were able to nullify the loss of Aayush Ahlawat, with Jack Smith luring him into a shot straight to Mason Trickey, before putting the foot down to dominate their batting innings.
Six batsmen all up scored the required 40 runs before retiring as Ballarat Blue dominated to put on a 239-run partnership for the second wicket.
The second wicket was taken by Will Smith, who was able to clean bowl Sasha Volz for a duck, but Ballarat Blue had the edge in finishing on 2/256 off 33 overs.
With darkness descending on Jubilee Oval, Maryborough’s batting stint was a very difficult one, with Ballarat Blue’s excellent bowling, plus the fading light due to the impending storm, making it extremely difficult for the batsmen to score.
As a result, Maryborough had lost six wickets for just five runs, with Ahlawat taking five wickets — with all six wickets taken hitting the stumps.
Trickey and Jack were the only two players to score, scoring two and one apiece.
However, with the rain arriving, the game was abandoned.
Maryborough’s under 13s ventured to Newstead Recreation Reserve for their second game of the tournament when they took on Castlemaine Green.
Batting first, and getting more of an opportunity to craft an innings, Maryborough did suffer a blow when Fateh Bains was bowled with the score on three, but Jack was able to score well to give them a foothold on the game.
The second wicket fell when Jack was bowled for 16 with the score on 21, and soon after, Cody Jamieson was next to fall, trapped in front for LBW.
However, Josh Nalder was proving to be a rock, and along with Trickey, was able to put together a 22-run partnership to get the score up to 50.
But two wickets in two balls gave Castlemaine Green the advantage, with Trickey bowled for 10, before Judd Ross was similarly bowled for a duck.
Nalder and Will were able to put together a strong 44-run partnership, with Nalder providing the bulk of the runs, while Will was proving to be a rock as he kept his wicket.
Eventually, however, Will was lured into playing a shot on seven which went straight to Castlemaine’s Brayden Allen, and he was removed for seven.
The last four wickets were taken for just five runs, with Maryborough all out for 99.
Nalder top-scored with 40 in a classy innings which included four fours.
When Castlemaine Green batted, they were able to put together a partnership of 116 for the first wicket to comfortably take the win, with Declan Brasher scoring an unbeaten 43, while Seth Gross scored 32.
Castlemaine would eventually continue to score at a very solid pace to finish on 6/220 off their 40 overs.
Tristan Davies took two wickets for 15 runs, while Trickey likewise took two wickets.
Maryborough’s under 15 team was due to play off for the top spot in pool B against Grampians at the time of production, while the under 13s will have two more matches, with a game against Gisborne Green continuing at the time of production, as well as a finals round-robin game today.
Country Week will then continue in two weeks time, with Maryborough participating in the under 17 Kirton Shield.
