THE Youth Premier League (YPL) cricket carnival wrapped up on Thursday following four days of quality cricket on four different grounds around Hamilton.

College Cricket Club youngsters, Henry Bensch and Jack Austin, featured in the Western Waves team, and both made solid contributions to its overall success.

Bensch captained the side to finish the Under-16 YPL carnival with a record of 5-2, while Austin had the gloves early and then was moved to the outfield using his pace and good hands.

Bensch said it was an enjoyable week and to bring home five wins was something the team should’ve been very proud of.

Coming into the week as “underdogs”, he said it was pleasing to string some strong performances together, which included knocking off the top team, the Highlanders.

“It was a great week, everyone played their roles and we all got along and enjoyed the week,” Bensch said.

“We came into the week with us boys wanting to perform well, (but) to get five out of seven wins was an awesome achievement - we missed out on the grand final by percentage but defeated the top side.

“We came into games being underdogs and not given much chance, but we never shied away, all of us had clear plans.

“(Our) gameplay during pivotal moments was at a very high standard which was evident in the results.”

The skipper said both teammates and opponents were very impressed with the local facilities.

“The local grounds and facilities were top notch, we played at multiple grounds and every deck was as good as they get, all the boys noted how magnificent the facilities are in Hamilton,” he said.

Bensch had a good week with bat and ball, scoring 116 runs at an average of 16.57 with a top score of 35 off 29 balls when opening in round six - he was solid with the ball too, claiming four wickets including figures of 2-20 in round seven.

He batted at number five in the longer format games and opened the batting in the T20 games, a move that he felt worked well.

“I was pleased with how I went with the bat and bowl, the T20 format was a more suited role for myself which I enjoyed,” Bensch said.

“The captaincy role I absolutely loved, (being) given the chance to lead a bunch of ripper blokes for a week was unreal, all the fellas did everything I asked.

“I’ve also taken a lot from being a leader and working on that side of things to gain better skills.”

Austin said the week was a great experience for him and valued the opportunity to play with a great bunch of boys at home.

“(The week) was lots of fun and I really enjoyed the team and the challenges it brought me,” he said.

“We played very well as a group, we had some great individual performances, and we might have dropped one too many games.

“We could have been in the final, but we had great wins and I thought when we were on, we were one of the best sides in the comp.”

The College B grade talent has been dominant in the Hamilton and District Cricket Association (HDCA) this year, scoring 204 runs in just four hits, with scores of 51, 70-not-out, 15 and 68.

He wasn’t able to score as well as he would’ve liked during the YPL campaign, hitting 48 runs in the seven games.

“I didn’t have a huge impact with the bat … I wish I did better, but it was a tough competition and we played T20s, it’s always hard to play when you’re not a big person,” Austin said.

He got a stumping in the first game and picked up three catches for the week, showing he was dangerous without the gloves getting two run outs as well.

Austin said despite not being able emulate his form for College, playing on the grounds he was used to was beneficial, as he knew a bit about how they’d play.

There wouldn’t be many grounds that he is more familiar with than College Turf, which he got to play on twice for the week.

He also said it was great to be captained by someone who knew him and his game so well in Bensch.

“To play on College in this competition was amazing, it’s an amazing ground and Heater (Heath Schmidt) our curator does a great job,” Austin said.

“Playing down here felt like playing on a Saturday … it really gave us Waves boys an insight on how the decks would play, I thought all the decks played well and they were very true, the outfields were great.

“To have Hen in the side was so nice, he captained the week so well and I can’t say I have been led better by anyone else in cricket.”

Bensch said his next goal was to gain selection to tryout for the Vic Country team which would be selected from the best players in the YPL carnival.

He was hopeful to try and make a transition to play some Victorian Premier Cricket in the near future as well, depending on his situation, with a particular club in mind.

“They will select a few from each team to try for the Vic Country team which is the goal I’m chasing … also hopefully premier league clubs are watching this week for players,” Bensch said.

“We got asked to select a few teams (at the start of YPL) and I selected Geelong, St Kilda and Northcote … I would love to play down there (Geelong).”