Inspired by the deeds of Ashes rivals Australia and England at the Gabba, the Limestone Coast’s top junior cricketers will pad up for their own coveted piece of silverware next week.

South East representative boys and girls teams are fighting for the Country Cup in the Under 16 age bracket and are braced for some enthralling on pitch battles.

The carnival of cricket all kicks off on Monday and just four days a later a champion will be crowned after four competitive rounds plus finals are contested.

After a month-long selection build up, a 14-player South East squad has been selected and is ready to embark on another Under 16 Boys campaign.

The Mount Gambier, Tatiara, Naracoorte and Millicent cricket associations are all represented with many fine young players boasting seniors experience keen to show their talents on the representative stage.

West/South’s Robert Case and Jayden Prior have been shining lights and the latter is expected to share the keeping duties with Millicent’s Sam Hunt, who has opened the batting for his club’s senior side.

East Gambier duo Angus Clarke and Jack Lawrence may also feature in the top order.

Lawrence will be on a high fresh from his A Grade debut recently and the final Mount Gambier representative is Tiger Rajat Pandey, while Penola paceman Zac Zema could play a role with the new ball after hitting the crease in three Barber Shield games.

The only duel association player is Will Graetz, who has caps for East/North and Lucindale and Kingston also enjoys some representation through Luke Watson.

Hamish Davies, Riley Doecke, Daniel Will and Nathan Walker make sure there is a strong Tatiara flavour in the team.

Prior, Clarke and Graetz all have happy memories from last season piling runs on the scoreboard and they will be determined to boost their averages with an extra year of experience.

Last summer South East was a tough opponent scoring wins against Upper North, Yorke Peninsula and Adelaide Turf North.

However, a defeat to Eyre Peninsula dashed hopes of the ultimate success.

The team is coached by Craig Watson and said the side’s biggest strength is its ability to bat deep with scoreboard pressure critical in the cut-throat competition.

“We are quite lucky to have some very versatile players across any of our junior cricket teams,” he said.

“We bat right down the order, so I am hoping we can establish a couple of partnerships in each game to hopefully score around the 180-run mark.

“If we get there we should win more games than we lose.”

With only the top four of 12 reaching finals, almost every game is a must-win scenario and Watson wants to hit the ground running in the high-pressure environment.

“Over the last few years the South East has developed a little bit of a reputation for starting slow and not achieving their full potential in the first game,” he said.

“So my focus is get the team up and about ahead of the opener because getting a win straight away opens the whole carnival for you.”

The Under 16 Girls Country Cup may have a much shorter history, but it has built lots of momentum since its inception in 2019-20.

Across the three summers, women’s cricket has also taken off in the Limestone Coast with the development of the SE Female Open Age Cricket League and the region is keen to show off its young talent.

The South East squad for the nine-a-side representative competition is coached by Chloe McKenzie and she is looking forward to seeing how South Australia’s best stacks up compared to her experiences in the Victorian system.

“I am really excited to see what the standard is because this will be my first representative tournament in terms of coaching,” she said.

“But I am a regional coach for the Geelong Cricket Club so I have a lot of experience there.

“I think we have a really strong group of girls and will be competitive.”

South East made a strong impression in last year’s competition beating the likes of Eyre Peninsula and Fleurieu and Districts where Laura Chester smashed 91 not out in the final game.

McKenzie revealed it was a challenging selection process but believes a well-rounded team is ready to make an impact in field.

“It was a really difficult thing to pick the side because there were so many talented girls and some were unlucky to miss out,” she said.

“We are a very strong fielding and bowling team.

“We have some bowlers who can swing the ball in and out a long way, plus a couple of handy leg spinners.

“The keys for us will be taking wickets and restricting runs to win games.

“The fielding is really good as well because we did a high-catching competition at training and they dropped just five of 60 catches.

“Batting is probably something we have not spent as much time on, but I am sure they will develop their skills.”

Although the SE Female Open Age Cricket League finished last weekend, the Country Cup campaign kicks off a bust period for the junior girls.

The South East will take two teams to the Hamilton Country Week in January next year.

Both sides start playing on Monday with the girls meeting Fleurieu and Districts at Callington Oval, while face the Yorke Peninsula at Strathalbyn.