OVER 60 junior cricketers from the Hamilton and District Cricket Association (HDCA) have been selected to compete in junior country week campaigns next month in Warrnambool, Horsham and Portland.
There were great numbers of kids from all around the region attending the tryouts, resulting in five teams being selected, including three Under-13 sides, an Under-15 squad and an Under-17 team.
Country week is held every year for different age groups, generally including representative sides from places like Hamilton, Warrnambool, Colac, Horsham, Mount Gambier, South West and Portland.
The Under-17 Hurricanes will play their week in Warrnambool while the Under-15 side will travel to Horsham and the three Under-13 teams will play in Portland.
HDCA Under-17 coach, Robbie Cook said he couldn’t wait for the week and to give his team the opportunity to perform on the big stage.
“I enjoy coaching, it’s something I look forward to each year, it’s a good opportunity to gather some of the better players to represent the association,” he said.
“I’m really happy with the squad we’ve got this year, it’s always hard to know how you will go at country week because you don’t know about the other squads and what they look like.”
Cook has been involved in country week since the Under-13 competition first started up in Portland more than a decade ago.
He said his favourite part about it was seeing the development of the young cricketers and watching them improve over the course of the week.
“If we go away and have fun, the young lads keep playing cricket and then old lads like me can keep watching cricket,” Cook said.
“I never get caught up with winning the whole thing, I think it’s about getting improvement out of everyone, (I hope) everyone can improve a bit and take that back their home club to kick start their form or season.
“My expectation is that we have a good week and enjoy each other’s company.”
Cook said despite the COVID-19 pandemic, country week cricket has got the nod each year and hasn’t really been impacted despite the absence of trial games.
“We haven’t missed out on any country weeks, we’ve always been able to get through,” he said.
“We put out an initial squad for our first trial, but it got cancelled due to COVID, it was a pretty strong squad, so it was hard to trim it down … (instead) we had a couple hits out at Monivae in the nets.
As for the leaders of the team, Cook said giving Henry Bensch (College) the captaincy was a decision that didn’t require much thought, while Tyler Ellis (Hamilton) was selected to fill the vice-captain role.
“Henry is bottom age, but he was an easy choice as captain, he was skipper of the (Western) Waves and he did a superb job there, he’s a natural leader and very talented, we are very excited to have him as captain,” he said.
“Tyler oozes talent, I think that added responsibility as vice-captain will be good for him and he will be able to take away a lot of learnings from that.
“The best thing about our team this year is we’ve got kids who want to go away and represent the association, we’ve got a great group of lads who want to go and play cricket, that’s what country week is all about.
Cook said he felt the whole team could have a strong impact throughout the week and any player on the team could stand up and perform on any given day.
He picked a few of his players who he expected could have a big week in Warrnambool and perform well in their respective roles.
“The whole group is really exciting … I’m excited about Jock Barrie, he has been given plenty of opportunities for College in the A grade, hopefully by the end of the week he can come out of it with some confidence,” Cook said.
“Jack Wortley is a ripper, I’m excited to see him play and spend the week with him, he’s another who will be great to give a few hits and has been getting runs in D grade.
“Joey Lehmann and Mitch Bright are a couple others who are very excited to go away and play, as well as St Andrew’s’ Fraser Hill.”
“That’s the beauty about this group of boys, they are starting to make their way into the higher grades, opportunities aren’t as many and can be tough when they come, so to give them some opportunities here is great.
“It’s a very even competition and tough competition to win, I’ve never went there and had easy games, every game is tough which is what you want.”
Teams
Under-17: coach – Robbie Cook; manager – Anna Wortley.
Henry Bensch (c) (College), Tyler Ellis (vc) (Hamilton), Mitch Bright, Sully Gibbs, (Casterton District), George Austin, Jock Barrie, Jack Wortley (College), Noah Cameron, Archie Buck (Hamilton), Rylan Pech, Joey Lehmann, Fraser Hill (St Andrews) and Archie Cameron (Byaduk).
Under-15: coach – Lachie Watt; manager – Daniel Shaw.
Harry Austin (c) (College), Eddie McShane (vc) (Hamilton), Eli Hunter, George Huf, Cooper Edmonds (College), Campbell Glazebrook, Lachie Phillips, Brodie Phillips (Grampians), Isaac Shaw, Riley Casey, Jackson Ellis (Hamilton), Jedd Rhook and Josh Jones (Casterton District).
Under-13 Hurricanes Gold
Darcy Milne, Will Bourke, Tom Templeton (College), Nate Longhurst, Brody Pratt (Casterton District), Hayden Phillips (Grampians), Theo Lehmann, Isaac Lehmann, Jesse Riley (St Andrews), Oscar Templeton, Alexander McAdam and Levi Templeton (Tahara).
Under-13 Hurricanes Green
George Clark, Jude Alexander, Ned Hintum (College), Angus Heazlewood, Myles Alderman, Louis Lazzari (Grampians), Jay Casey, Jobe Dunn (Hamilton), Grady Bell, Ryan McGregor (St Andrews), Archie Adams (Tarrington) and Aiden Cooper (Tahara).
Under-13 Hurricanes White
Billy Rhook (Casterton), Zander Mibus, Hugh Prentice, Mitch Gordon (Grampians), Kaeden Murphy, Austin Sobey (Hamilton), Chad Logan, Archie Templeton, Matthew Hill, Xavier Dwyer, Jac Dwyer and Tom Morton (St Andrews).
