Antonio Depasquale took three catches and a wicket in Fire Brigade's demolition of Leitchville-Gunbower in Goulburn Murray Cricket's under-15 competition last Thursday.
A Kyabram Redbacks batter has produced the single most impressive innings of the Cricket Shepparton under-14 A-grade season by smashing 90 runs against Numurkah in an otherwise disappointing afternoon for his team.
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Rhys Parsons faced the third ball of the fourth over after Kyabram had lost three batters in four deliveries and had just nine runs on the board.
He went on to face 72 deliveries, sending 14 of those to the boundary - including depositing four deliveries over it - as he accounted for all but 48 runs of his team’s 138-run total.
Earlier in the season Parsons had scored 47 not out from 33 deliveries, followed by scores of 25, 35 and 36.
The 13-year-old is one of four brothers playing with the Redbacks, with Zavier (11), Callum (9), and Mitchell, 7, all showing similar ability.
His early season scores paled against his 90-run tally, which lasted right up until the end of the 25-over Redbacks innings, when his batting partner Thomas Barnard was run out.
Parsons had taken 14 runs off the first five deliveries of the over before the run out.
He came to the wicket with both Redbacks openers removed for one and two other top order batters dismissed without scoring. He retired before returning to bat with Thomas Barnard (run out for one off 18 deliveries) and Jimmy Badgery (who scored 10) for 11 overs to give the Redbacks a defendable total in the two day game against the third ranked team.
Barnard gave the Redbacks a great finish to the day when he took two wickets from his two overs, with Asher Porch taking the other wicket. Numurkah will continue their innings on Wednesday night on 3-27.
Tayte Newman, son of Kyabram sporting legend Paul, strikes a unique pose under the watchful eye of Brenton Sheppard at Kyabram P-12 College last week.
– Fire Brigade's cricketing Depasquale brothers have started the second half of the Goulburn Murray cricket junior cricket season in similar fashion to the way they ended 2024, both influencing the results of the first round after the Christmas break.
Younger brother Ashton was the hero of the under-13 Fire Brigade innings after arriving at the wicket with his team five wickets down in the 15th over against second-ranked Moama White.
Older brother Antonio helped his top-of-the-ladder under-15 team to a fourth straight win by taking three catches behind the stumps and also took a wicket as Leitchville-Gunbower was all out for 62 in the two day game at Kyabram P-12 College.
The upset under-13 team win - Fire Brigade sits second bottom on the six-team table – comes as the team needs to beat bottom team BLU this weekend and then top of the ladder Rochester in the final round to have a chance of qualifying for the finals.
Ashton Depasquale started slowly, facing his allocation of balls before retiring, only to later return to score 16 runs from nine balls. He struck three fours and a six in his total score of 29 (from 23 deliveries), allowing the team to post 9-143 from its 25-over allocation.
Earlier in the innings opener Aidan Greiner had scored a run-a-ball 27 before being run out and Hudson Boylan was busy in compiling his 16-run total (off just 15 deliveries).
Ashton Depasquale then took the new ball and took two wickets, removing an opener and the number three batter. Moama White finished 29 runs short of the target as Max Gould led the bowling figures with 3-7 from just 2.4 overs.
- Antonio Depasquale’s excellent season is expected to continue this weekend when he faces the bowling attack of the second-bottom team.
Has already has one half century and an unbeaten 42 to his credit this season, but it was with the wicket-keeping gloves and ball that he did the damage in the round six game. He scored 117 runs and was dismissed just once in the pre-Christmas break rounds.
His catching and bowling supported Jake Hubble and Jonty Sefton, who were the pick of the under-15 team’s bowlers, two of Sefton’s four overs being maidens as he took 2-3, while Hubble took 2-6 from 2.4 overs.
- River Townsend’s three-wicket return for the under-15 Tongala team was not enough to prevent third-ranked Rochester from posting a 200-run plus total.
Townsend took 3-29 from his five overs after three of Rochester’s top four batters had all retired after facing 40 deliveries. Rochester finished with 8-212 from 40 overs, four other Tongala bowlers taking a wicket each in the game at Rochester’s Windridge Oval.
Tongala has a big challenge to reel in the tally and then has top team Fire Brigade in the final round. They would need to win both games to finish in the top four teams.
- A third win for Tongala’s under-13 team has it sitting fourth on the ladder with three rounds remaining.
They face the two bottom teams, Stanhope and Rushworth, before facing second-ranked Echuca South in the final home and away round on Wednesday, February 12.
The round 11 win came against Leitchville-Gunbower after Tongala lost the toss and was asked to bowl. Leitchville-Gunbower took 7-116 from 25 overs, thanks to the work of Kane Pyke, Luca Hastie and Phoenix Greenman.
Greenman took 3-9, Hastie 2-5 from three overs (including two maidens) and Pyke a more expensive 2-35. Pyke had 18 runs taken off one over by LG star Jax Hare early in the innings.
When it was Tongala’s turn to bat, star opener Kevin Maurizi set the tone with six boundaries in his 24-ball total of 25. He had support from Kane Pyke (20 off 26) and then Greenman completed another fantastic all-round effort with 19 runs from 15 balls (including four boundaries).
Tongala needed six runs to win off the final over and it was twin brothers, Kane and Lucas Pyke, who were there to see the team home for a third win of the season.
