NSW have been crowned the U/19 Male National Champions after winning their last round match against Queensland (December 11-12).
NSW headed in the final round of the tournament with a three point gap at the top of the competition ladder. They needed to win their last Two Day game against Queensland to secure the title.
Day one of the clash was heavily affected by rain with NSW bowled out for 164 runs. They started their fight back late in the day to have Queensland 3-27 at stumps, with Tom Skelly taking two wickets.
Daya Singh and Alex Glendenning then picked up three more scalps between them early on day two to further reduce Queensland to 6-42. They were eventually bowled out for just 126 runs in 45.2 overs with Singh (3-21), Glendenning (2-50), Skelly (4-37) and Kieran Elley (1-18) the wicket takers. NSW had to bat for another 49 overs to finish off the day, reaching 7-185 at the end of the match.
The first innings win was enough to give NSW the Championship. They finished on 21 competition points, four clear of second placed Western Australia with South Australia third on 15 points.
This was NSW’s first U/19 National title since the 2009/10 season, and their 17th title overall since the competition’s inception in 1969/70.
NSW Head Coach, Michael Maclennan, praised his team’s efforts during the tournament.
“The team showed an enormous amount of self-belief throughout the competition. There were moments when we had our backs to the wall, however, they consistently re-grouped to put themselves in to a position to win the match,” he said.
“Our batsmen all contributed at different stages in the competition with Jake Doran’s century against Western Australia an exceptional effort. Our bowling group, led by Daya Singh and Alex Glendenning, were outstanding. Even in our last match against Queensland we were confident that if we could get at least 120 runs on the board, then we would be able to defend that in the field.”
Jake Doran (245 runs at 81.67) was the tournament’s leading batsman with Daya Singh (15 wickets at 10.40) the leading bowler. Both were named in the Team of the Championship while NSW were also presented the Spirit of Cricket award.
The following players represented NSW at the U/19 Male National Championships:
Damien Mortimer (captain – Campbelltown-Camden), Riley Ayre (Central North), Steve Birch (Sydney University), Nicholas De Guisti (North Coastal), Jake Doran (Fairfield-Liverpool), Keiran Elley (Fairfield-Liverpool), Daniel Fallins (Sutherland), Alex Glendenning (Western Suburbs), Thomas Jagot (University of NSW), Jeremy Maher, Jake Scicluna (Randwick Petersham/Central Coast), Guy Seymour (Fairfield-Liverpool), Daya Singh (Blacktown), Tom Skelly (University of NSW/Southern Zone)
Full scorecards and statistics from the U/19 Male National Championships are available at www.nationalchamps.com.au.
