ACT/NSW Country v Victoria Country
Cricket Australia U19 Male National Championships
7 to 14 April 2022, Mackay
Round 4, 13 April 2022 at Harrup Park #5 Roy Trevaskis Oval
A brilliant warm day was a welcome sight after the rain of the previous few days. Sensational work by the groundsmen at Harrup Park had made 50 over games possible on all four grounds. Each team came into the match with a win and two losses. The winner would go into the playoff for 5th place.
Victoria won the toss and elected to bat. ACT/NSW bowler Angus McTaggart had bowled just two balls when he succumbed to what appeared to be a side strain and was replaced by Jeremy Nunan. It was Nunan who struck with the first ball of the third over when skipper Jack Hartigan held onto a good catch at slip to remove Shobit Singh. Liam Blackford was his usual aggressive self striking 3 fours and a six in a 24 ball innings before he too was out to a Hartigan catch off the bowling of Harry McGregor in the last over of the power-play. Four overs later, McGregor struck again with the assistance of a Harrison Townsend catch to remove Tom Scott who had struggled to 4 from 34 balls. James Doherty and Xander Buxton held out for the next two overs to take Victoria to drinks at 3/57 from 16 overs.
Buxton and Doherty cracked 18 from three overs after drinks, but the party ended there when Zak Keogh’s catch off Townsend dismissed Buxton and McGregor pouched one off Connor Cook to remove Reilly Mark just a few minutes later. The pitch was definitely taking some turn, especially for Cook who was spinning so far from off to leg that he was called for several wides. Doherty and Victoria skipper, Josh Garner had just begun to settle when Townsend trapped Garner in front to make it 6/93 in the 26th over. The tight bowling continued with Doherty and Vincent Huf managing just 25 in the next 9 overs to drinks.
Doherty was finally out eight balls after the break, LBW to Nicholas Toohey for a stubborn 36 from 80 balls and the incoming Harkirat Bajwa was bowled just seven balls later by an Aidan Cahill special! Huf and Noah Hurley took 23 from the next five overs to take the score to 145. That was the last of the runs though as Hartigan grabbed his third catch off Connor Cook to dismiss Huf and Keogh grabbed his second catch to give McGregor a well-earned third wicket and wrap up the innings in 43.3 overs.
Jack Hartigan was in a hurry at the start of the ACT/NSW Country innings. He clubbed 2 fours and a six in the second over and another four in the third before his luck ran out in the 4th, edging a wide one into Buxton’s gloves. Zac Keogh was joined by Thomas Coady and the pair settled into their innings. After a morning baking from the NQ sun, the pitch seemed to have settled a little. Keogh especially seemed to be in control finding the boundary regularly, including three successive fours in the 11th over by Noah Hurley. Keogh was given a life on 34 by keeper Buxton on the first ball of the 14th over and the Keogh/Coady partnership brought up 50 from 58 balls a few balls later. Coady was deceived by Vincent Huf and bowled in the 16th over to bring the partnership to a close on 57 from 68 balls.
Drinks were taken and Keogh was joined by Harrison Townsend. There would be no more wickets as Keogh and Townsend continued the ACT/NSW Country dominance. Keogh brought up 50 from 65 balls in the 23rd over and was dropped again by the keeper on 67 from the bowling of Noah Hurley. The 50 partnership between Keogh and Townsend came up a couple of balls later and the pair remained undefeated on 63 from 86 balls when the total was overhauled at the start of the 30th over. A win to ACT/NSW Country by 8 wickets.
OTHER ROUND 4 RESULTS:
QLD Country (183; Thomasson 68; Menzies 3/28) def by. Northern Territory (4/184; Kelaart 52; McAteer 2/37)
Qld Metro (9/222; McFadyen 63; Callanan 3/35) def. NSW U17 (Singh 67, Sinfield 3/45)
Tasmania (175; Anthes 37; Cole 5/41) def by. NSW Metro 9/240 (Shaw 74; Smith 3/50)
Victoria Metro (4/281; Lemire 102*; Higgins 1/16) def. South Australia (McCabe 91; Birthisel 2/47)
Play off Games:
Grand Final: QLD Metro v NSW Metro - Great Barrier Reef Arena
3rd place Play-off: NSW U17 v Tasmania - Harrup Park #2, George Gorrie Oval
5th place Play-off: ACT/NSW Country v Victoria Metro - Harrup Park #3 - Jack Lancaster Oval
7th place Play-off: Northern Territory v South Australia - Harrup Park #5, Roy Trevaskis Oval 1.45pm (T20)
9th place PLay-off: QLD Country v Victoria Country - Harrup Park #5, Roy Trevaskis Oval, 9.30am (T20)
