It was a big week at the NSW Country Championships Carnival for local Roos’ cricketers in Illawarra.
Corowa Cricket Club’s Mark Athanitis, Matt Wilson and Ben Mitchell represented the Riverina with aplomb with Mitchell and Wilson tied as Riverina’s most valuable players taking out the Robbie Jackson Medal for the carnival after games in both T20 and 50 over competitions.
In the T20 game against Greater Illawarra on Thursday Mitchell bowled exceptionally well in his four overs taking out three of the top-order batsmen with figures of 3 for 21. He then backed up with the bat, top-scoring with 24 runs in Riverina’s tight win.
Matt Wilson chimed in with 15 runs and Mark Athanitis did not bat.
In the one-day match on Friday, it was Wilson’s chance to shire as the Riverina side smashed through Southern Districts’ batting order leaving Riverina with only 94 runs to chase.
Mark Athanitis claimed one wicket for 13 in a tight spell of three overs.
With the bat, Matt Wilson opened and was almost unstoppable with a top score of 46 runs off just 64 balls which featured 7 boundaries.
Riverina reached Southern Districts’ total after just 22.1 overs at 2 for 98. As a result, Mitchell and Athanitis were not required to bat.
On the Saturday, Wilson helped post a 41-run opening stand and Mitchell came in later scoring 30 runs in Riverina’s 170 score from 46.4 overs against Western who eventually won the game after 20 overs.
Riverina scored a supurb five-wicket win on Sunday bowling out favourites and evetnual championship winners Greater Illawarra for 168 with Mitchell bowling an impressive 3-14 from his 10 overs. Wilson top-scored with a brilliant 64 runs.
Riverina Coach Trent Ball remarked on Matt Wilson’s performance saying that he batted beautifully against Illawarra on Sunday.
Ball also mentioned that Ben Mitchell was “clearly” the best spinner of the carnival and he expected he would be picked for the NSW Country team to be named after the country championships final on December 1.