Central Highlands and Metropolitan South East Bayside to meet in U18 State Championships final

Teams were split into pools of four for the competition, with Metropolitan South East Bayside, Metropolitan Inner East, Metropolitan Inner South East and Metropolitan West topping their respective groups after the round robin stage of the competition.

Gippsland Pride batsman Sam Whibley was the top run scorer throughout the competition, scoring 211 runs in four innings at an average of 70.33 and a high score of 94, closely followed by Central Highland batsmen Jakob Tidyman (206 runs at 68.67) and Thomas Rogers (200 runs at 66.67).

Mallee Murray quick Chase Stone was the leading wicket taker with 14 scalps in four games, with Metro North West’s Alex Mills (13 wickets) and Metro South East Bayside’s Damon Egan (12 wickets) close behind.

The semi-finals were closely fought affairs, with Metropolitan South East Bayside defeating Metropolitan West and Central Highlands defeating Metropolitan Inner East.

After winning the toss and batting first, Metropolitan West were bowled out for 154 in the 48^th over of their innings.

Grant Jones top scored with 56 while Damon Egan (4-24) and Blake Parsons (3-16) did the damage with the ball for Metropolitan South East Bayside.

Metro South East Bayside were never troubled in their run chase, running the total down inside 40 overs largely thanks to Chris Diggle (67*) and Egan (62*).

The other semi-final was a higher scoring affair, the Central Highlands won the toss and batted first against Metropolitan Inner East, amassing 6-259 from their 50 overs.

Thomas Rogers hit 94 while Blake Thomson (61) and Jakob Tidyman (58) also chipped in with half centuries.

Metro Inner East couldn’t quite chase down the target in response, bowled out for 224 in the 48^th over despite half centuries from Nathan Boucher (67) and Lewis English (62).

Harli Givvens was the standout bowler for the Highlanders with figures of 5-33.

Central Highlands and Metropolitan South East Bayside will meet in the final at the MCG on February 7.