Albany and Districts Cricket Association chase more A-section glory as four local teams head to country week

Albany and Districts Cricket Association first team skipper Coen Marwick will give plenty of responsibility to their young charges for senior country week which starts in Perth on Sunday. Marwick was also hoping key batter Lincoln Joy will be available to take his place in the side. Joy, who was the only Albany and Districts representative in the WA Country team at the recent national championships, pulled out of last weekend’s Great Southern Carnival, which was won by the ADCA top side. He has been named in the association’s top country week team but doubts surround his fitness after injuring a quad while playing at the championships in the South West. Marwick is hoping Joy will be able to play as the side prepares to take on Bunbury and Districts, Busselton-Margaret River and West Pilbara in A-section’s pool B. The Whalers were runners-up to Geraldton in the grand final at the WACA last year and last held the Boan Cup when they were champions in 2024. They will open their 2026 campaign on Sunday against Bunbury and Districts at RA Cook Reserve. Marwick is crossing his fingers that he will not have to re-jig his line-up. “We haven’t heard whether Lincoln is playing — but we haven’t heard he’s not, so until we hear different, we will assume he is,” he said. “We could draft someone up from the second team but that just moves the problem along, so hopefully he will play.” If Joy is unable to play, the likes of Billy O’Meara, player of the match in the carnival final last week, and Buddy Robinson will have to step up. Marwick is expecting tough opposition from all three opponents, with Busselton-Margaret River scheduled for Monday at Hillcrest Park and then West Pilbara on Wednesday at Charles Veryard Reserve, potentially with a semi-final place at stake. He said it was hard to judge who would be the teams to watch. “Bunbury and Districts have a really good competition, and West Pilbara really took it to Geraldton, who won last year,” he said. “We don’t really know what we are going to come up against, but we will go and give everybody the respect they deserve as a good side. “If every region was able to field all its best players, anybody could win, but it’s really about who you get on the day.” The ADCA second team will be hoping there are no top-team issues as they have injury problems themselves after Lachlan Otway was unable to bat in the Great Southern Carnival final against their association rivals. They start in B section pool A against West Pilbara 2 before facing South Midlands and then Newman. ADCA are sending four teams, with representative sides also competing in the tournament’s C and F sections. ADCA 1: Devon Jefferis, Lincoln Joy, Seb Stanton, Buddy Robinson, Coen Marwick (C), Alby Berridge, Milan Jaggi, O’Shea Durack, Oli Douglas, Billy O’Meara, Hayden Davies, Liam Davies. ADCA 2: Jack Hastie (C), Lachlan Otway, Cam Walsh, Matthew Thompson, Angus Thompson, Ryan Kinnear, Dylan Belward, Caleb Haua, Mohit Jaggi, Jed Schwarzbach, Ben Grey, Oli Clark. ADCA 3: Graeme Weinert (C), Ryan Tindale, Ian Waugh, Andrew Smith, Angus McSweeney, Aran Tilbury, Lewis Culver, Shane Manser, Tarik Hartfield, Peter Ross, Bryce Durack, Cameron Newbold, Ryan Davies. ADCA 4: Damian Schwarzbach (C), Brendon Girak, Nick Bickford, Nathan Benson, Damian White, Aldo Lionetti, Jake Schwarzbach, Jordan Draper, Jeremy Watson, Will Elms, Riley Wood, Darren Grey.