The local cricket season may be on hold, but the action has not stopped after the region’s top Under 16 boys and girls played and performed in the 2021/22 Country Cup last week.
Across a huge week of cricket both South East representative sides ventured to Adelaide and surrounds and stood tall against some of the state’s brightest stars with the boys reaching the semi-finals, while the girls scored two wins in a closely-fought conference.
South East started its campaign on the front foot with a formidable win over Yorke Peninsula.
A trio of three-wicket hauls by Riley Doecke, Sam Hunt and Robbie Case restricted the opponents to a meagre 120.
Yorke Peninsula never had enough runs on the board as Angus Clarke and Will Graetz guided South East home with eight wickets in hand.
The top order continued to show strong form in the following clash with Upper North as Clarke and Hunt compiled an opening stand of 92.
Clarke scored a half century and although he and Hunt fell in quick succession, Luke Watson’s 47* pushed South East to a strong 4/189.
Despite a score from Upper North’s top order, Rajat Pandey and Hamish Davies took a combined total of six wickets to stop the chase 50 runs short.
South East met Eyre Peninsula in the final group game and what would become a playoff for the top spit in Conference C.
Eyre Peninsula batted first and a couple of Case wickets was not enough to stop the side from posting 6/177 from 40 overs spearheaded by captain Reuben Hill’s 64.
The run chase started off solidly, but once Eyre Peninsula broke through the top order the wheels fell off.
Only the top three reached double figures as South East crumbled to 111.
Despite the disappointing end to the group stage, the South East team’s dream was still alive as it fronted up for the semi-final against Adelaide Turf.
South East bowled first and Pandey, Case and Jack Lawrence started brilliantly restricting the opposition to 3/23.
However, Haard Shah’s 45 helped Adelaide Turf recover to a decent score of 8/165, while Case was the pick of the bowlers collecting 3/33 from his eight overs.
South East’s run chase suffered a nightmare start when its vital opening partnership of Clarke and Hunt both fell when only eight runs were shown on the scoreboard.
Jayden Prior, Watson and Graetz dug deep, but Adelaide Turf’s class with the Kookaburra overwhelmed the Limestone Coast batters.
South East lost 6/8 and folded to 63 all out to mark a disappointing end to a promising campaign.
Zanen Syrokos was the chief destroyer 4/4 from his 2.4 overs, while Adelaide Turf went on to secure a thrilling one-wicket win in the final against Eyre Peninsula.
Case’s potent seam deliveries were potent throughout the entire carnival and he was rewarded with some impressive individual awards.
The youngster claimed nine wickets and averaged 7.56 runs per dismissal with a best of 3/11 against Yorke Peninsula.
These impressive figures were enough for Case to be named as the only South East representative in the team of the year, plus being the joint leading wicket taker for the entire carnival alongside Eyre Peninsula’s Ethan Franklin, Adelaide Turf’s Kuwerdeep Singh and North Eastern’s Harrison Lawlor.
Case was well supported by Graetz in the field and the latter shared the fielding trophy with Murray Districts/Barrier’s Liam Wisneske.
The Under 16 Girls South East team fresh from the local women’s league wrapping up recently were in a buoyant mood to take on the state’s best in the Country Cup.
Unfortunately the side’s campaign did not get off to the perfect start after Fleurieu and Districts handed a reality check on day one.
South East was sent in to bat, but Annabelle Yelland and Minka MacAuley proved almost impossible to face with the new ball.
Four of the top six batters were dismissed for ducks as South East was left stunned with the scoreboard reading 6/20.
Amid all of the chaos, Ella Ruchs was able to stand tall and smash South East away from an embarrassing score.
Ruchs was the only batter to find the boundary rope and double figures as her 35-ball 24 was the only shining light in South East’s 61 and much like that harrowing night at Trent Bridge in 2015, extras was the highest score.
South East needed early wickets, but all hope was lost as the Fleurieu openers raced to 42 to set up an easy eight-wicket win.
After the touch up South East brushed away the disappointment and responded in the best possible fashion by beating Mid North/Yorke Peninsula.
South East padded up first again, but this time a heroic standalone effort from captain Hayley Twigden was the difference.
As wickets tumbled around her Twigden remained composed to score a vital 40 off 77 balls.
Her innings accounted for almost half of South East’s total of 82 as the remainder of the batting order struggled to hang around.
Despite only setting a modest target, South East rallied with the ball and restricted Mid North/Yorke Peninsula to 7/62 to seal the win.
The hero with the ball was Georgia Barrett after she picked up 4/10 from five overs.
After enjoying a bye South East had to face up against a confident Barossa and Light team and the end result was not pretty.
South East’s bowlers had no clue how to remove Chloe Rosenzweig, who was in sublime form smashing 84 not out.
One of Rosenzweig’s three half centuries in the carnival boosted Barossa and Light to an imposing 148.
The target always appeared out of reach as the young South East team was bamboozled by Tessie Kennedy.
Kennedy picked up the crazy figures of 6/7 from her five overs as South East was bowled out for a poultry 20 from 12 overs with Abby Mules’ six the top score.
But in similar fashion to round 2, South East bounced back brilliantly to end the carnival on a high beating Eyre Peninsula.
The likes of Barrett, Twigden and Mules were deadly with the ball claiming two wickets each to limit their opponents to a chaseable 77.
South East recovered from an early scare as Barrett (17) and Mia Grady (14) steered their team home by five wickets to sign off from the Country Cup with a smile.
Barossa and Light went on to win the competition, but South East still tasted some success after it was completed.
Barrett’s fine all-round efforts were rewarded with a birth in the team of the year, while the entire South East team coached by Chloe McKenzie shared the Spirit of Cricket award with Eyre Peninsula.
