Albany and Districts Cricket Association finish Bunbury junior carnival with two grand final victories

Albany and Districts Cricket Association enjoyed a successful trip to the Bunbury junior Twenty20 carnival last month.

Four teams represented Albany and Districts with two teams in the under-15 and under-13 category at the carnival on January 22-24, and they came home with two titles.

The under-13 A side and under-15 B side won their respective titles, the under-15 A team finished second, and the under-13 B outfit were third to cap a terrific carnival for the association.

The Albany and Districts under-15 B side won three of their four qualifying games to finish second on the ladder and faced off against Peel in the decider at Leschenault Recreation Reserve, prevailing by 42 runs.

Albany batted first and posted 6-125 off their 20 overs, led by Jed Loton, Jackson Ross and Tait Hartfield.

Ross made 31 and shared in a 54-run opening partnership with Hartfield (16 runs), while Loton finished not out on 31.

In reply, Peel were restricted to 6-83 as Rowan Webster (2-7) and Jack Heffernan-Backshell (2-12) snared multiple wickets.

The under-13 A side won three of their regular games to finish second on the ladder and took on the undefeated Peel side in the decider, winning by 18 runs at Palmer Oval.

Regan Christensen top-scored with 40, and Ryan Hick added 21 as they were bowled out for 120.

Christensen then led the way with the ball as they restricted Peel to 6-102 for grand final glory.

The under-15 A side went through undefeated in their four qualifying games but went down in the decider to Bunbury by six wickets at Grammar Oval.

Albany and Districts could only post 9-85 batting first, with Devon Jefferis top-scoring with 24 and Milan Jaggi adding 18.

They fell short, however, as Bunbury chased the target down in the 16.3 overs, finishing on 4-87 despite two wickets from Matt Thompson.

The under-13 B side had one win in their qualifying matches but won their third and fourth play-off against Peel Blue by five wickets at Hay Park.

Peel Blue made 4-107 batting first but Albany and Districts chased the total down in 17.5 overs finishing on 5-108 as Teo Foreman made 43 not out and George Darmody added 19.

There were plenty of highlights in the qualifying games, led by Thompson who took a superb hat-trick in the under-15 A section, finishing with 4-7 from four overs.

Teague Valli made 94 in the under-15 A section’s second game, while Jefferis scored 84 for the under-15 A team at the carnival and Cameron Walsh posted a 61.

Christensen had an innings of 54 in the under-13 A section while Hick also made a half-century.

Ross made an unbeaten 94 for the under-15 B side and Oliver Douglas made 58 in one game, while Webster claimed outstanding figures of 6-12 at the tournament.