THE results may not have gone their way, but Portland’s junior cricketers have shown plenty of promise during their country week tournaments over the past few days.

The under-15s travelled to Horsham for their competition, taking on Hamilton in their first matchup on Monday, with their opposition setting a big total of 8-218 off their 50 overs.

Eamon Drew was the pick of Portland’s bowlers, claiming 3-32 off his seven overs.

In reply, openers Portland Artie Harvey and his skipper Tighe Warburton were impressive, putting on 98 runs for the first wicket as they made 36 and 42 respectively.

They got support further down the order from Seb Harvey (16), Sooria Sonti (21), Tomas Stockdale (12) and Brody Pratt (18), however it wasn’t enough to get them the win as they fell short by just 20 runs.

It should be noted that the last time these two sides met Portland lost by more than 100 runs, which demonstrates the level of improvement

In their next match against Wimmera Mallee, it was Portland’s bowling which was on full display, as they held their opponents to 9-125 off the full 50 overs on Tuesday.

Sonti was the pick of the bowlers, claiming 3-7 off his five overs including three maidens, while Drew (2-9 off four overs) and Pratt (2-16 off eight overs with three maidens) were the other key contributors with the ball.

A rough start with the bat which saw both openers dismissed for ducks to have Portland at 2-0 was quickly countered by Klay Nicholls (37), with help from Sonti (14) and Pratt (17), however wickets continued to fall.

In a heart-breaker, Portland lost their last wicket with just six runs remaining for victory, but nonetheless it was a fantastic performance.

Their hard work looked to be paying off in the third game of the campaign on Wednesday, as they faced Warrnambool Blue, with Seb Harvey’s exceptional half-century supported by 24 from Warburton and 17 from Nicholls as they saw their side to 8-133 after 50 overs.

Portland got off to an excellent start with the ball, as while Warrnambool made their way to 21 without loss, they then lost 5-16 thanks in large part to the bowling of Drew (2-15 off 10) and Seb Harvey (2-16 off six).

Warrnambool weren’t going away however, as their lower order continued to push them closer to the line.

They match came down to the last over, to be bowled by Nicholls, with three runs required for Warrnambool and one wicket for Portland.

While he gave up singles off the first and fourth balls of the over to level the scores, Nicholls held his nerve, and with the penultimate ball trapped the final Warrnambool batsman LBW to claim an incredible tie.

Struggles for under-17s

While there were some strong individual performances on display for Portland’s under-17s in their country week tournament in Warrnambool, they weren’t able to put together a cohesive team performance.

It was a rough start to proceedings when they took on Hamilton on Monday, as their opposition piled on 5-296 in their 49 over innings, with Henry Bensch belting an astonishing 116 from 112 deliveries.

The pick of Portland’s bowling attack proved to be Eamon Dempsey who claimed 2-33 from his eight overs.

Portland wasn’t able to get much going in reply, with Mitchell Bright’s 33 the only score in double figures, as they were bowled out for 116 in the 39th over.

Portland’s second match against Colac saw a handful of batsmen able to get themselves set but not able to push the envelope on the scorecard, as they were eventually bowled out for 82.

On the flipside, Portland got an impressive effort out of their bowling attack, as Macauly Baker claimed a remarkable 4-16 off 4.1 overs, while Chad Finck took 2-23 from his five overs.

Wednesday saw two matches played, both Twenty20 games.

In their morning fixture against Warrnambool Gold, the Portland boys were able to show greater resistance with the bat, as Harvey Reynolds (25 not out off 26) and Bright (27) ensured they completed their innings, albeit with a small total of 4-82.

Finck was once again fantastic with the ball, claiming Portland’s only two wickets in the subsequent innings, and finishing with figures of 2-10 as the side lost by eight wickets.

In the afternoon Twenty20 played against South West, it was Oscar Barbary’s turn to put his hand up in Portland’s bowling attack, as he claimed 2-20 from four overs as their opposition carted their way to 5-159 off their 20 overs.

Despite a rough start, the side had a much more positive performance with the bat, as Reynolds (34 off 21), Dempsey (23) and Kade Wilson (15 not out) all produced solid efforts with the bat, with the side ultimately finishing up on 7-107 to lose by 51 runs.

Both teams will have been getting more opportunities across Thursday and Friday of this week, with the results of those matches to be published in the coming Tuesday’s edition of the Observer.