Albany and Districts under-14 squads record mixed bag of results at annual junior country week

Albany and Districts Cricket Association came home without any silverware despite strong showings from the under-14 squads at junior country week in Perth last week. The under-14 A-section side went down by three wickets to Wellington in their final game in Murdoch on Friday to finish second on the standings, while the under-14 B-section team finished fifth in their pool after winning their final game against Esperance by 112 runs. Wellington finished on top of the table in the under-14 A-section competition with a record of four wins from as many games while Albany and Districts had two wins from four games to secure second place. The Albany and Districts B-section squad recorded two wins from five games to finish fifth, with Broome taking out top spot in their pool. Albany and Districts A-section notched wins over Bunbury and Districts in round two and Geraldton in round four before their virtual grand final loss to Wellington on Friday. Albany and Districts were restricted to 143 batting first, with Wellington posting 7-167 in reply thanks to a half century from Sheldon Johnson (54 runs). Wellington snared the wickets of Lochie Otway (10 runs), Ryan Hick (1) and Max Osborne (7) before Dash Germinario and Regan Christensen shared in a 62-run stand. Germinario (35) and Christensen top-scored for Albany and Districts, with Germinario smashing four boundaries while Christensen whacked four fours and four sixes on his way to 61. Germinario was bowled by Johnson in the 35th over and the final five wickets collapsed for 25 runs as they stumbled all out for 143. Things looked promising early in the second innings as Christensen clattered into Wellington opener Kash Thompson’s wicket, however they found their feet with the next wicket coming in the 19th over. Lochie Otway took the wicket of Corey Gibbs (17) while Montana Dallywater (29) was bowled by Chaz Durack six overs later. Johnson’s innings of 54 was backed up by Brady Oxford (25) and Dallywater (29) as Wellington finished comfortable winners at 7-167. Max Osborne was the only multiple wicket taker with 2-19 while Chaz Durack also chipped in with 1-7. The under-14 B-section team finished their campaign in positive fashion following a spirited win in the fifth and sixth play-off match against Esperance. A hardy 47-run innings from opening batsman Evan Pretorius helped Albany and Districts post a total of 163 before Esperance could only muster 10-51 in reply. It took until the 16th over for Esperance to claim their first scalp, with Angus Clarke-Smith being run out for 16 after hesitating at mid-wicket. They had stumbled to 5-93 by the 20th over but a tail-end knock from Oscar Kerin (23 off 47 balls) ensured they finished strong in the first innings. Jenson Brayshaw trapped Mitchell Guest in front for a duck but Esperance were buoyed by a 29-run partnership between Charlie Vermeersch (4) and Taj Liddelow (29). Vermeesch was skittled by Bryce Hinchcliffe in the seventh over with the rest of the batting order failing to contribute meaningfully with their final eight wickets falling for 20 runs as they finished all out for 51. Cooper Barlow was outstanding with the ball to finish with figures of 3-2 and he was well supported by Stan Ebert (2-2) and Sam O’Toole-Gardner (2-0) in the terrific result.