Upper Great Southern Cricket Association C2 under-14s give Wellington the boot and clinch country week crown

The Upper Great Southern Cricket Association under-14 C2 team won their division of junior country week, walloping Wellington in the grand final by 10 wickets. Although the C competition is mainly a participation event, it was a battle for the Uppers, who topped pool B with four wins, beat Northam in a tough semifinal, and then took on the pool A runners-up with the title at stake. The tournament took place from January 5-9 at venues across Perth. Uppers fielded first in the final, restricting Wellington to 8-119, with Heath Lewis the star of the bowling, taking 4-9 in 4.4 overs. Eight Uppers bowlers were in action, with Kingston Reid the next-best with figures of 2-10 off three overs. In the chase, Uppers had the luxury of retiring their top seven batters, with Matthew Gooding (11no) and Connor Blechynden (15no) finishing the job and taking their side to 0-120. The semifinal against Northam was a low-scoring affair. Put into bat, Northam reached 8-54, with Lewis and Matthew Gooding each taking two wickets. The Uppers’ reply owed much to Clay Hardie’s 24 as he was the only batter to reach double figures, but they eventually reached a total of 59 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Wellington beat Albany and Districts in the other semifinal to earn the right to face Uppers in the final. In their round-robin fixtures, Uppers beat Wellington twice in their opening games and then dispatched Bunbury and Districts in round three. Clay Hardie retired on 35 not out as Uppers reached 4-204 and then restricted Bunbury and Districts to 7-43. Their final pool game was against Eastern Goldfields. Uppers made 5-164, with Hardie unbeaten on 34. Goldfields reached 8-139 in reply, with Rohan Kellow and Matthew Gooding each taking two wickets. Hardie was the third leading run scorer in the division with 132 runs, while Lewis was the equal leading wicket-taker with nine scalps at an average of 3.78.