Junior country week: Bunbury win under-16 A division title and Wellington the under-14 A-division crown

South West sides pulled off a clean sweep of the junior country week A-division titles last week, with Bunbury and Districts claiming the under-16 crown and Wellington the under-14 division.

Bunbury bounced back from a loss to Albany in the pool stages with a six-wicket win over the same opponent in the final, while Wellington finished off a strong tournament in their decider with a 33-run victory over Peel Country.

Both games were played across WA Cricket’s facilities at Murdoch University.

In the under-16’s final, the Blue Swans bowled first and limited the Whalers to a score of 170 from their 50 overs.

Benjamin Lincoln was the best of the bowlers, finishing with figures of 4-39 from 10 overs.

Flynn Fazey got the chase away to a strong start by making 55 from 94 deliveries at the top of the order before Jaxon Magennis (33 not out from 46 balls) and Lincoln (31 not out from 42 balls) finished the job with 34 balls to spare.

Wellington’s Monty Dallywater finished as the leading run-scorer in the division with 294 runs, capping off his tournament with a remarkable 107 not out from 126 deliveries in a total of 179 his side suffered a four-wicket loss to Busselton-Margaret River on the final day.

Busselton-Margaret River’s Jimmy Green (210 runs), who made 84 not out in the same game, and Bunbury’s Kalani Heal (202 runs) also had standout weeks with the bat.

Lincoln finished as the division’s leading wicket-taker with 11, ahead of teammate William Lloyd and Busselton-Margaret River’s Kieran Zahra, who both claimed 10 victims.

The under-14’s final saw Wellington defend their total of 7-171 by bowling Peel Country out for 138.

Another fine knock from Kael O’Byrne proved the difference in the game, with the division’s leading run-scorer making 77 not out from 92 deliveries as his side posted a total of 7-171 in the first innings.

Wellington were able to bowl Peel Country out for 138 to claim the title, with Jesse J Crognale (3-22 from seven overs), Isaac Hardwicke (2-20 from 6.3 overs) and Jay Pfoeffer (2-21 from eight overs) among the wickets.

Bunbury’s Noah Charles (175 runs) and Crognale (163) finished behind O’Brien on the run-scoring chart.

Busselton-Margaret River’s under-16 B gold side was the other South West outfit to win their division, recording a resounding 111-run win over Upper Great Southern in the final.

Oscar Nimmo (67 from 96 balls) and Reuben Castillo (63 from 82 balls) underpinned their brilliant first-innings score of 8-223, which they defended by restricting their opponents to 8-112.