The next generation of South East cricket is looking promising after the side’s youngest representative team was crowned the kings of country cricket last week.

Taking on the state’s best in the annual Country Cup carnival, the South East Under 12’s squad showed it was capable of taking on anyone in any conditions.

The team coached by Steven Vause and managed by Ben Geary produced plenty of positive cricket and went on an unbeaten run to the state country championship title.

Vause could not be prouder of the way his team climbed to the top with each squad member contributing in all facets of the game.

“They did a fantastic job,” he said.

“It was absolutely a team effort and the fielding was outstanding all week.

“Fielding is usually the difference between winning and losing games and that proved to be the case.

“We only had the bare minimum of 11 players for each game because we lost a couple of good players just before we got up there due to COVID related sorts of things.

“It was possible because we had a great bunch of kids and parents.”

Despite the last-minute pull outs due to COVID-19 regulations, the setback was not enough to stop the South East from making a huge impact in the opening game against Yorke Peninsula.

Ryder Lindner laid the foundations for his incredible campaign by smashing 70 off 55 balls to propel the team to an imposing 6/169 with assistance from Orlando Vause’s 34.

But South East had not finished the job yet as the bowlers went to work.

Six individuals picked up wickets led by Vause’s 3/4 as South East skittled Yorke Peninsula for a meagre 41 to wrap up a convincing win.

The 128-run win was an emphatic exclamation mark and the side rolled on with the momentum.

Lindner scored another crucial knock to push South East to 5/113 in the second game before Preston Lydeamore helped restrict Upper North to 3/86.

South East was forced to bowl first in its battle with Eyre Peninsula, but no problems occurred.

Tight bowling from Jagger Geary and Thomas Richards meant the opponents could only set South East 7/71 for victory which proved to be a piece of cake as the Limestone Coast top order only needed 15 overs to chase down the runs with nine wickets in hand.

The win completed a clean sweep of minor round wins and put the South East on top of Conference C to setup a date with Barossa and Light in a playoff for the Country Cup.

The contest proved to be an enthralling affair between two evenly matched teams.

South East was sent into bat and started well thanks to some gutsy efforts from Vause (25), Lindner (17) and Geary (18).

However, once the opponents found a way through the top-order batters, they went on a tear led by Lachlan Johnston’s 4/16.

Suddenly South East slipped from 2/67 to all out 101 which left some work to do for the bowlers.

But Geary and Kobi Maxwell were on a mission and started the defence in dream fashion.

Both openers made ducks as the new-ball duo rattled the top three’s defences to push Barossa and Light on the back foot at 3/7.

However, the middle order led by Riley Nottle’s 35 rallied to make some spectators nervous.

Barossa and Light suddenly looked comfortable at 4/73 until another chain of wickets brought South East back into contention.

The remainder of the run chase was a fascinating game of cat and mouse, but Barossa and Light appeared to have the edge.

At eight down their tail nudged their way to within one boundary of glory, but their hopes were dashed by golden arm Lindner.

The star all-rounder rose to the occasion knocking over the final two wickets in as many balls to finish with figures of 4/11, but more importantly wrap up the Country Cup in unforgettable style.

Watching from the sidelines coach Steven Vause said it was tense times.

“We started off fantastically, but their middle order got away from us,” he said.

“Then as things went on we managed to get a couple of the big wickets in the middle order who were hitting the ball very hard.

“We could not bring Ryder and Orlando back on until the death, so we had to wait.

“But we brought Ryder back on as soon as we could and he took the last two wickets in that over which was brilliant.”

With the Country Cup under its belt, South East received the chance to take might Adelaide Turf which comprises the city’s top talent.

The Limestone Coast team batted first and scrapped hard, not allowing the confident hosts from bowling them out to bat through the overs.

Eventually South East reached 7/70 from its 30 overs against a relentless bowling attack with Orlando Vause the standout scratching his way to 18 off 41 balls.

It may not have been a particularly challenging total for Adelaide Turf to chase, but Geary made sure the city side would earn victory.

The young Mount Gambier quick stunned the hosts by pinning Jaikar Singh – a player averaging 91 – lbw before clean bowling Eli Gaerth next ball.

Eyeing a much-celebrated hat-trick, he steamed in and fired in a yorker to the new batter, who only just managed to dig it out.

Despite falling millimeters short of a hat-trick, Geary’s new-ball feats made a mark to all those in attendance at Park 25 as Adelaide Turf won the Grand Final by eight wickets.

It was the perfect final chapter of an impressive bowling campaign for Geary who finished up as the competition’s equal leading wicket taker with seven scalps, closely followed by joint runners-up Orlando Vause and Lindner.

The latter pair were also heavy hitters in the run-scoring charts with Linder being the second most prolific with the bat scoring 152 runs, while Vause also exceeded triple figures across the carnival.