ORANGE CARNIAL: The U13 rep side that competed at Orange this year. (back row): Angus Huard (manager), Thomas Dolby, Kyle Jarrett, Cameron Fernie, Ben Seyffer, Matt Apps, Kaleb Phillips, Michael Dolby (coach) and Jared Smith (front row): Kealan Blattner, Alex Hedger, Dan Hall, Ryan Henry, Luke Huard.
THE Shoalhaven U13 representative cricket side finished a creditable fifth place at the recent Orange Carnival losing just one match to the eventual winner Northern Districts. The team included 10 players from last year’s successful under 12 team that took out the Southern Zone title. The twelve Shoalhaven representatives performed strongly against some very talented opponents in testing conditions.
In game one, against ACT Gold, Shoalhaven won the toss and decided to bat first. Having lost a wicket in the first over, Jared Smith and Kaleb Phillips produced an excellent 99 run partnership until Smith was bowled on 23. Despite the loss of his partner, Phillips continued the attack and registered his century soon after to the delight of the travelling fans.
Once Phillips was retired, Kyle Jarrett (48 n.o) and Cameron Fernie (24 n.o) pressed home the advantage with clean hitting and outstanding running between wickets. At the end of its 50 overs Shoalhaven had racked up a total of 243 for the loss of four wickets.
In reply the ACT side struggled to cope with the left arm pace of Cameron Fernie (4/9). Alex Hedger took a wicket with his first ball in rep cricket while Kealan Blattner chipped in with 2/19 as the ACT was dismissed for 122.
Game two was against Northern Districts. Shoalhaven won the toss and elect to bat. Unfortunately our batting did not fire against tight bowling and agile fielding. Several batsmen made good starts with Kaleb Phillips top scoring with 21, while Ben Seyffer showed tenacity against some terrific spin bowling until he was run out for 18.
Shoalhaven posted a total of 119 which was always going to be difficult to defend. Unfortunately when opportunities arose in the field Shoalhaven failed to seize the moment with two catches going down at crucial times. The boys continued to work hard but ultimately the match was lost by six wickets.
Game three saw things go up a little against a weaker Orange/Bathurst team. The Shoalhaven skipper won the toss for the third consecutive match and elected to bat first with the goal of setting an imposing total. Matt Apps was promoted to number three and compiled a very patient 47 in an excellent 115 run partnership with dynamo Luke Huard. Apps was trapped lbw just short of a deserved half century. Huard was able to achieve his before being retired on 53. Dan Hall (24 n.o) and Kyle Jarrett
(34 n.o) finished the innings with a flourish to set the home side a chase of 205 runs.
An early run-out got Shoalhaven off to a great start and leg spinner Alex Hedger followed with 2/19 and a good spell of bowling that slowed the run rate. Second change Thomas Dolby proved to be the destroyer. Dolby took two wickets with the first two balls of his spell and returned to knock over the tail. He finished with outstanding figures of 5/3 off almost five overs. Orange/Bathurst was skittled for just 71 runs.
After their three pool matches Shoalhaven found itself in the playoff for fifth and sixth against ACT Blue. A toss was finally lost and the boys were forced to field first.
Things looked ominous early until the introduction of leggie Hedger who broke the opening partnership with help from Ben Seyffer who snared a great catch.
Dan Hall (2/26) produced an impressive spell to remove the dangerous ACT opener. Fernie, Jarrett, Henry and Dolby all chipped in with wickets but it was Hedger who took the honours with an excellent spell of 3/34 as ACT was dismissed for 191.
The run chase suffered a setback when Smith was dismissed with the score on 26. However, the loss of his opening partner did not affect Thomas Dolby who proceeded to dispatch the Blues bowlers to all parts of the ground. Dolby smashed 13 boundaries before cruelly falling short of a century when caught on 99. He had racked up the impressive total off just 81 balls in a 124 run partnership with Kaleb Phillips.
Despite a brief case of the wobbles when Shoalhaven lost three quick wickets, Phillips (52 n.o) calmly
guided his side to victory by four wickets to finish the carnival in fifth position overall.
A big thank you to the parents who gave up the time to support their child’s passion. Also thank you to manager Angus Huard who did a sterling job. The boys seized the opportunity to play representative cricket and provided wonderful support for Kyle Jarrett and Cameron Fernie who were selected to play under lights in the T20 match on the Tuesday night.
Michael Dolby,
U13 Coach.