Region well represented at country champs

The Great Southern region will again have a strong representation at the upcoming Toyota Australian Country Cricket Championships after six local products were named across the two WA Country XI teams last week.

Geraldton will host the annual country championships from January 5-13, with three male and three female players from this region selected to take part.

Mt Barker’s Jeremy Wood, who lives in Kendenup, will be joined in the men’s Country XI team by Railways pair Zane Marwick and Nathan Crudeli, with the trio all heading to their second carnival in WA colours.

The men’s side have named a strong squad in their quest to replicate their winning feat of 2010-11 in Bunbury when WA last hosted the championships.

The side will be led by Jono Whitney, with former Royals and Collingwood Park player Tim Hutchison his deputy.

Wood is in a race against time to be fit for the championships after the all-rounder injured his ham-string in the Bulls’ Twenty20 semifinal on Sunday.

The team arrives in Gerald-ton on January 4 ahead of their first match the following day.

In the women’s Country XI side, Albany’s Bonnie Crook has been named alongside former Mt Barker junior Georgie Middleton and ex-Albany resident Samara Williams, with the latter pair both now living in Perth.

Williams, Middleton and Crook all represented WA at the last championships in Wollon-gong, NSW, and will be key parts of the WA make-up as they look to win their maiden women’s ti-tle.