Tongala Recreation Reserve and Kyabram Recreation Reserve will host Junior Country Week cricket games early in the new year.
Kyabram’s Riley Carver and Stanhope pair Hamish Stewart and Jack Donaldson have been included in the 12-strong Goulburn Murray Cricket under-17 team.
They will play against Bendigo in the opening round on January 6 (Monday), then face Murray Valley at Tongala Recreation Reserve on the Tuesday and Wangaratta in the final round at Cohuna on Wednesday, January 8.
The final of the competition will be played at Bamawm Recreation Reserve.
Archer Backway and Wil Harrison have both been included in the under-16 team, which will be coached by renowned junior mentor Daryl Harrison. They play at Katunga, Cobram and Katamatite, with the final due to be played at Barooga on Thursday, January 9.
Fire Brigade star Antonio De Pasquale and teammate Paddy Westerveld are both in the under-15 squad, along with Stanhope player Ollie Stewart and Tongala pair River Townsend and Hugo Monnich Vo.
They play at Chittick Park in Seymour on Monday and Tallarook on Tuesday.
Four Kyabram Fire Brigade players are in the under-14 team — Charlie Pekin, Jonty Sefton, Max Stockdale and Archie Sheppard — to face Shepparton at Mooroopna on day one, with Murray Valley at Kyabram Recreation Reserve on Tuesday, January 7 and Bendigo at Vibert Reserve in Shepparton on Wednesday.
Aiden Greiner and Max Gould are in the Under-13 team, with games to be played at Bendigo, while Billy Sheppard and Cooper Fisher have made the GMC under-12 team.
• Kyabram Redbacks cricketers Rhys Parsons, Riley Nicholson and Anthony Evans will all contest the under-14 Junior Country Week tournament with the Cricket Shepparton team.
Lacy Parsons, Morgan Parsons and Georgia Leonard have won selection in the under-14 girls’ side.
Georgia also played last week in Hamilton with Northern Rivers in the Cricket Victoria Country Cup under-15 girls competition.
• Stanhope has put a series of near misses behind it to win its first game of the 2024-25 Goulburn Murray Cricket under-13 competition.
The team beat Leitchville Gunbower by 22 runs in the final round before the Christmas break, in a 25-over game that was highlighted by the all-round performance of William West.
William opened the batting and struck four boundaries in his 16-ball 19-run total. Later he took two vital wickets as Stanhope managed a 22-run win — scoring 4-122 to its opposition’s 4-102.
Stanhope still sits on the bottom rung of the ladder, but will have its sights set firmly on its next two games — against Rushworth and Tongala, who sit only two wins ahead of it on the ladder.
In round one the team lost narrowly to Rushworth, then lost by just two runs to Tongala in round three. When the youngsters played Leitchville Gunbower in round five they lost by just four runs.
In last week’s game Stanhope was sent into bat, William West getting things off to a positive start before Ashton Nurse (20 runs from just 13 deliveries) and Cooper Fisher (22 from 20) continued the momentum.
They were the last of the batters to score double figures, however, as Leitchville Gunbower turned the tide.
Stanhope didn’t take its first wicket until the eighth over, but after its opponent’s top three batters were retired back in the pavilion the team took control.