Bignell and Beatty hold their own, but no wins for Great Southern Cricket Association U14s at country week

The Great Southern Cricket Association under-14 B side competing at junior country week finished bottom of their pool B ladder, unlucky to be without a win. They battled hard all week against sides from around WA but finished sixth overall in the competition, which ran in Perth from January 5-9. In their first outing against Esperance, Tate Beatty (32) and Theo Bignell (22) were both unbeaten as GSCA’s innings ended at 2-87, while their opponents notched 5-96. They were 6-98 compared with Busselton Margaret River’s 4-151 and were well beaten by Northam, who smashed 7-285 against Great Southern’s 67 all out. It was much closer against Warren-Blackwood, when their 7-190 was just pipped by their opponents’ 6-196; and close again as they lost out to Eastern Goldfields, making 6-150 as their rivals tallied 8-159. Their final outing was a play-off for fifth-sixth with Warren-Blackwood. Put in to bat, Bignell (31) and Beatty (28) did the best as GSCA were dismissed for 137. Taj Wells took 3-30 but Kalis Neil (40) and Nate Mader (57) gave Warren-Blackwood the edge, and a tally of 8-138.