ACT/NSW Country v Victoria Metro

Cricket Australia U19 Male National Championships

7 to 14 April 2022, Mackay

5th place play-off, 14 April 2022 at Harrup Park #3 Jack Lancaster Oval

A bright and breezy day greeted the teams for the final day of competition. With two wins and two losses each, ACT/NSW Country and Victoria Metro were paired to play-off for 5th place. Vic Metro won the toss and chose to bat.

Tom Mileto looked in great touch early for Vic Metro striking two boundaries in the second over and one in the fourth before falling victim to a very good catch by Eric Bell behind the stumps. Skipper Jagadeswara Koduru joined Angus Newman but the pair struggled in the face of some very tight bowling adding just five runs in the next four overs before Koduru chopped one on in Harry McGregor’s first over to make it 2/26. Newman was joined by the previous day’s centurion Jai Lemire to steady the Vic Metro innings. The next 7 overs yielded 22 runs before Lemire played around one in Ethan Fitzpatrick’s first over and met the same fate as his skipper. Drinks came a couple of overs later with Vic Metro 2/64 after 17.

Eight balls after drinks, Newman’s 60 ball innings was brought to a close when he lofted a short one from Connor Cook right into the hands of Aidan Cahill at mid-wicket. 16 minutes later, Spencer Wood was out in exactly the same fashion and 16 minutes after that, the reintroduction of Ethan Fitzpatrick brought about the demise of William Townsend - caught by his name-sake, Harrison Townsend - to make it 6/95. Meanwhile, at the other end, Harish Kannan looked in control, picking off singles and twos seemingly at will. This complimented the aggression of his new partner, Dhruv Redhu who calmly spanked Fitzpatrick for two sixes in the 32nd over, catapulting the total to 114.

The Redhu/Kannan partnership was 42 from 50 balls when Kannan lofted one to Cahill for his third catch and Townsend’s first wicket in the 38th over ending a fine innings of 38 from 60 balls. Seven balls later, Redhu was trapped in front by Nick Toohey and Vic Metro were in some trouble at 8/137. Ikroop Dhanoa and Max Birthisel set about the rescue mission with flare, running like hares between wickets and blasting boundaries at opportunity; the latter mainly by Birthisel who struck 2 fours and 2 sixes in a valuable innings. The 50 partnership came up from exactly 50 balls in the 48th over. Dhanoa was cleaned up by a Jeremy Nunan thunderbolt with eight balls to go leaving Birthisel to shepherd Vic Metro to 199 in a fine innings of 37 not out from 33 balls.

If 56 from the last ten overs wasn’t enough, Vic Metro had even more to smile about when Jack Hartigan edged to Spencer Wood at slip at the end of the first over by Tom Walker. Zak Keogh and Eric Bell added 23 from the next seven overs, before speedster Tom Nelson crashed one through Keogh’s defences in the 8th over. Incoming batsmen Tom Coady was the second victim of Tom Walker via a diving catch by keeper Lemire five balls later and ACT/NSW Country were in a hole at 3/31 after 9. Bell and Tim Martin dug in to guide their team to Drinks at 3/51 after 16 overs.

Just one boundary came from the Bell/Martin partnership, a six struck by Bell in the 19th over, but 41 valuable runs came without loss in 12 overs. Trying to increase the scoring rate, Bell was finally out for 32 to a Harrish Kannan catch off the bowling of Dhruv Redhu in the 21st over. Martin continued to stonewall the Vic Metro bowling attack, picking up single after single. A sole six in the 23rd over and a two in the 31st (both to Aidan Cahill) were the only non-singles in a 31-run partnership. Angus Newman’s catch off Ikroop Dhanoa in the 31st over saw the end of Aidan Cahill for 20 from 23 balls. The left-handed Harrison Townsend came to the wicket in a flurry of twos including one to Tim Martin - his first in a 76 ball innings to that point!!! Martin’s first boundary - a six - came just before drinks taking ACT/NSW to 5/128.

With 72 needed from the last 14 overs, Townsend and Martin had accelerated to 31 from just 39 balls when Vic Metro skipper Jag Koduru, pounced on a prod to square by Martin and threw down the stumps catching Townsend short of his ground. Ethan Fitzpatrick joined Martin to add a valuable 20 from 27 for the 7th wicket before a Redhu catch made him Tom Nelson’s second victim. Martin’s second six brought up his 104-ball 50 from the very next ball, leaving 41 to get from the last 8 overs. New batsman Connor Cook took care of 19 of these in the next over, striking three sixes in a 20-run blitz. The hard-working Tom Nelson finally broke through Martin’s defences in the next over to make it 8/181; 19 to get from 36 balls. Cook continued his aggressive approach clubbing boundaries off the first ball of the next two overs. With 33 from 16 balls, he looked set to take ACT/NSW home, but became Nelson’s 4th victim in the 47th over with the score on 197; two to get. A single and a wide tied the score. One to get, three overs to go. It was all over two balls later when Birthisel strayed onto leg and Harry McGregor flicked one down to fine leg for four to bring up the victory and 5th place to ACT/NSW Country!

Play-off Results:

First Place: QLD Metro (9/198; Muller 74; Davies 2/24) def. NSW Metro (171; Shaw 38; Stockdale 3/21)
Third Place: NSW U17 (5/214; MacMillan 59; Voss 2/41) def. Tasmania (212; Radhakrishnan 42; Callanan 4/54)
Seventh Place: South Australia (3/130; McCabe 44; Wheeler 1/22) def. Northern Territory (5/127; Naganayagam 51; Weckert 3/5)
Ninth Place: Victoria Country (5/123; Blackford 60; McAteer 3/23) def. QLD Country (7/119; Ramsbotham 37; Keogh 2/10)