CRICKET
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AFTER going through their last two seasons of the Mitchell Cricket Council competition undefeated, the Bathurst under 14s signed off in style by winning the Bradman Invitational tournament in Bowral late last month.
It was the third year in a row that Bathurst have sent a side to the under 14s competition but the first time they have won. They did it in emphatic style to show why they have been so dominant in recent seasons.
Bathurst defeated all-comers in their five pool matches before squaring off against a Highlands team in the decider.
They were confident on finishing with the honours given they had already easily accounted for Highlands in earlier their qualifier.
The confidence was well founded.
Bathurst proceeded to steamroll through them a second time and cap off a brilliant run of wins before the majority of the side step up into under 16s next summer.
“This was basically the last tournament or carnival the kids can play in as under 14s. They had six games all up against Lachlan, Wagga Wagga, Hornsby, Dubbo and the Highlands, including the final, and won all of them pretty comfortably,” coach Shane Broes said.
“The matches were all 25 overs per innings, and in the six the lowest score we posted was 135 in the final pool match against Highlands, and we basically reversed the batting order for that match.
“We scored over 150 a couple of times and racked up 208 against Hornsby.
“In the final we made 155 after batting first – we batted first in every game even though we didn’t win all the tosses – and managed to keep Highlands to 8-110.
“Overall it was a pretty awesome display to win that comprehensively every time we played.”
When it came to stand-outs, there was no major surprise to see Ben Mitchell continue his unprecedented form from the 2015-16 season, smashing 238 runs for the carnival, retiring twice at 50.
Not content with that haul, he also backed up and took nine wickets.
But he wasn’t a one-man show.
Bailey Brien, Ben Cant, Sam Hall and Luke Mutton all broke the 100-run mark through the carnival.
Hugh Parsons was the leading wicket-taker with 10 scalps, while Izac Chirgwin and Riley Comerford both took seven.
“It was a case of letting the batsmen go down there and play with a bit of extra freedom. The format was basically the same as what they’re used to playing on a Saturday morning with the 25 overs, so they adapted really well,” Broes said.
“Wagga Wagga won last year, so beating them was pretty satisfying and to get the better of those teams from around our area like Lachlan and Dubbo was nice as well."