Chelsea Braithwaite shares a celebration high five with Lennon Hall, after taking one of her two wickets in the Stanhope and Fire Brigade match at Stanhope.
Chelsea Braithwaite’s wide smile and stinging high five celebrations with Stanhope teammates made for the perfect start to the Goulburn Murray Cricket season for the club’s mixed under-11 team.
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Stanhope has returned to the higher levels of the GMC juniors for the first time since 2018-19, having been involved only at under-10 Master Blasters level for the past few years.
While the result against the more experienced Kyabram Fire Brigade was probably not what the primary school-aged cricketers were looking for from the Twenty20 match, the sheer enthusiasm on display outweighed all else.
Fire Brigade won the toss and batted on the small hard wicket oval that sits alongside the main ground at Stanhope Recreation Reserve.
Stanhope wicketkeeper Jaxon Collins and Fire Brigade batter Archie Andison watch a skied ball during the Goulburn Murray Cricket under-11 game at Stanhope.
After 20 overs, on the back of a hard-hitting 19 (off 15 deliveries) from Kade Bramley, they had 141 on the board.
Bramley hit four boundaries and was supported by Archie Andison (not out 10), Eli Coombs (14 off 15 deliveries), Levi Cleveland (11, with two boundaries) and Ryder Morris (not out 14 off 15 deliveries) at number eight.
It was Stanhope’s Braithwaite who was the pick of the bowlers for her team, finishing with 2-14 from three overs. Lennon Hall also picked up a wicket.
Max Fisher opened the bowling for Stanhope’s under-11 team in its return to junior Goulburn Murray Cricket competition last week and was watched closely by Kade Bramley.
In reply Stanhope scored 67 from its 20 overs as Archie Andison backed up his work with the bat by taking two wickets and had support from Jaxon Roberts (2-8 from three overs) and Oscar Andison (2-9 from three overs).
Stanhope batter Finn Archard was the standout player for his team as he struck three boundaries in his 15 not out total.
Jaxon Collins and Max Fisher also found the boundary when it was their turn to bat.
There are 10 rounds in the under-11 competition, seven before Christmas (the last on December 6) and three in February to end the season.
Stanhope wicketkeeper Jaxon Collins watches the ball closely as his Fire Brigade namesake, Jaxon Roberts, swings lustily outside the off stump.
· At Tongala’s Brose Reserve it was an opening round win for Rochester in its match with the Mini Blues, a four-wicket haul from Harry Hodson the highlight of the match.
Hodson opened the bowling for Rochester and took 4-4 from his three overs.
Later he scored 12 not out from 18 deliveries to lead his side to victory against Tongala.
Tex Townsend and Nate Chantler stood up in the face of the onslaught for their team, Townsend striking three boundaries in his 14 (retired) and Chantler the only six of the game in his 16.
Oscar Andison lashes out for Fire Brigade in its round one under-11 match with Stanhope.
Three bowlers took wickets for Tongala — Ben Brennan, Spencer Williams and Jed Brennan.
· Tongala fell just seven runs short in its under-13 match with Echuca White last week, in spite of a hard-hitting late-order display from Kevin Maurizi.
Maurizi dominated a partnership with Cyril Cleveland by striking four boundaries in his top score of 18 (retired), but Tongala finished on 5-70 from its 20 overs.
Echuca White had earlier posted a 7-77 total, slowed considerably in the middle order when Noah Virivirilau took 2-4 from his two overs.
Stanhope had a tough time of it against Echuca South’s mixed team, finishing at 8-37 from 20 overs and unable to prevent its opponent from reeling in the score in 5.1 overs.
Ashton Nurse retired with eight runs to his credit after facing his allocated 20 deliveries, but Echuca South did not lose a wicket in the run chase.
· Tongala’s under-15 team faces a big run chase on day two of its game with Echuca after the home team finished with 193 runs.
It was not all one-way traffic as River Townsend ended the Echuca innings with back-to-back wickets and finished with figures of 2-4 from 3.4 overs.
Jordan Reid also took two wickets in an over, while opening bowler Hugo Monnich Vo claimed 2-17 from his four overs as all 11 Tongala players had the chance to bowl.
· Kyabram Fire Brigade co-captain Oliver Barnett and teammate Charlie Isaac claimed six wickets between them in the Friday night game against Bamawm-Lockington United.
The pair finished with the exact same figures, 3-15 from six overs, while new ball bowler Oscar Carver took 2-8 from his six overs and Archer Backway claimed the other wicket.
BLU was all out for 93 in 36.1 overs and Fire Brigade will be chasing the runs on Friday afternoon.
