THE next crop of emerging cricketers in Sunraysia gave a strong account of themselves in the Cricket Victoria Country Cup this week.
The Mallee Murray Suns under-16 boys side and under-15 girls squad both finished fourth in their respective groups.
It was an outstanding tournament from Mildura West’s Josh Driscoll, who led the under-16 run scoring with 228 at a 45.6 average, including scores of 77, 68 and 44 in his six innings, alongside six wickets with the ball.
Nichols Point’s Colby Marr also had a solid time with the bat with 102 runs, just outside the top 10.
Mildura Settlers’ young gun Nate Kiel was the Suns’ leading wicket-taker with seven scalps, taking wickets in every match bar one for the tournament, while Lars Castleman of Nichols Point claimed six wickets.
Mallee Murray had strong wins over Northern Rivers and Central Highlanders, as well as a tight one-wicket loss to North East Knights.
The girls also had good wins over Gippsland Pride and North East Knights, as well as strong in their final against Northern Rivers.
It was also a superb campaign from Merbein’s Eden Trinick, co-captain of her club’s senior women’s side, who finished joint fourth in the competition for wickets with nine, and was the Suns’ second highest run scorer with 48.
Romsey’s Megan Brundell was the best of the Suns’ run scorers with 98.
Meg Rogers (Northern Razorbacks), Danielle Armstrong (Tatyoon), Eadie Neagle (Nichols Point) and Laylee Trinick (Merbein) all had solid performances with the ball, Rogers taking five wickets and the latter three taking four each.
