Representative chance for juniors
Horsham junior cricketers started the year with a big week of games in Horsham and Warrnambool for Junior Country Week.
Horsham’s under-17 team travelled to Warrnambool for the competition and started their campaign with a win against near-neighbour Wimmera-mallee Cricket Association.
Horsham captain Connor Weidemann won the toss and choose to bat.
Tom Sostheim and Monty Wynne opened for Horsham and did well to see off the new ball, before losing a few middle-order wickets.
Dylan Newell made 33, Wilson Mitchell, 19, and Gibson Perry, 17, which helped push the total to 156 from 50 overs.
Horsham bowlers had Wimmera-mallee in trouble early with strike bowler Joey Nagorcka taking 4-28. Pressure continued with Jackson Hoffman, 1-8 from six overs, and Baxta Hendy, 1-9 from three overs, before Weidemann returned to take the final four wickets to finish with figures of 4-21 from five overs.
Wimmera-mallee finished all out for 87.
The Horsham boys followed the win with a tough game against Warrnambool Gold.
Horsham batted and secured 145 runs. Max Bunworth scored 47 and Nagorcka performed an entertaining 25 from 13 balls.
Warrnambool Gold replied with 232 after some quality batting.
Horsham’s following two games were Twenty20 formats against Colac and Hamilton on Wednesday.
In the morning game, Horsham sent Colac in on a rough-looking deck.
Colac got away to a solid start before a spirited second-half performance saw Hendy’s 4-17 and team hat-trick finish the innings strongly.
In reply, Horsham couldn’t get partnerships going and were all out for 74.
Avery’s Paddock at Port Fairy hosted the afternoon clash against a confident Hamilton outfit.
Horsham’s Nagorcka managed 19, with skipper Weidemann not out for 34 and some handy cameos from other batsmen to push the total to 107.
After the innings break, Hamilton looked odds on at 1-50 through 10 overs before the introduction of Nagorcka proved a handful for his southern neighbours, taking 5-14 in an amazing spell. Weidemann with 2-18, Hendy with 2-19 and Hoffmann with 1-10 also produced the goods.
Mouths were open when Weidemann caught the dangerous Henry Bensch
one-handed at cover, low down from a full-blooded drive.
The week in Warrnambool wrapped up with a tight loss to South West on Thursday and a great win in the final game at Port Fairy against Portland.
Gallant performance
Horsham’s under-15 players competed against seven teams from across western Victoria in Horsham.
On day one, the team braved hot conditions to finish within 30 runs of Warrnambool Gold, who won the final and were overall competition winners.
The game was within grasp until the final overs.
Jobe Dickinson took 5-20 off seven overs and scored 38 off 47, while Hugh Weidemann contributed 2-19 off four overs and 42 not out.
A mid-innings collapse saw a tough finish for the team’s day-two match against South West.
Horsham was all out for 110 off 43 overs. Jack Henry finished with 26 and Byron Merrett, 25, to top-score for Horsham. South West finished with 6-176 from 50 overs.
Captain Jaxon Crooks took three wickets while Ollie Inkster was encouraging and supportive in the field.
By day three, finals were out of reach but the team played hard against Mount Gambier on Wednesday.
Jack Henry and Tobey Anson finished the innings strong with powerful hitting, helping the total reach 7-183.
Opening bowler Oliver Potter led the way with 3-21 off eight overs and Mount Gambier could only score 105 in reply.
A good catch by Dezi Carter helped dismiss an opposition batters for a duck.
Horsham’s last 50-over game was played against Wimmera-mallee and the team bowled the near-neighbour opponents out for 54.
Crooks, with figures of 5-6 off six overs, was best of the bowlers. In reply, Horsham made 9-234. Harrison Hoffman had some luck early but fell just short of his hundred and made 94.
Dickinson finished with 40 runs off 26 bowls, coming in late.
The under-15 side finished the week with a Twenty20 game at Dimboola against Hamilton.
Horsham bowled Hamilton out for 63 and the team was looking to go out on a high note. Tight bowling and great teamwork saw wickets spread around, with Harry Millar and Riley Downer taking two each.
Opening batters Luke Miller and Weidemann passed Hamilton’s score in 13 overs.
Coach Ash Dickinson said he was ‘extremely proud’ of how the players conducted themselves.
“They all played their role for the team and have great potential to build on next year,” he said.