Harvey shines again as Breakers win U14 State Champs

Harvey’s well-measured 74 set the platform for the Breakers’ innings, which got off to a slow start.

Two wickets in two balls saw the Spirit on top early, as the Breakers fell to 2-6.

Jakob Woinarski joined Harvey at the crease, and the pair settled in before quickly lifting the run rate, essentially rescuing the innings.

They put on 49 for the third wicket before Woinarski was dismissed for a quick-fire 34.

Harvey then took over, increasing his aggression as Michael Parsons (10) and Jared Williams (19) played excellent supporting roles.

When Mitchell Hearne (1-29) picked up the prized wicket of Harvey however, the innings was still in the balance at 6-148.

The dismissal gave the Spirit high hopes of quickly running through the Breakers’ tail.

The loss of their number one batsman didn’t face the Breakers’ lower order, as Hamish MacCorquodale (19*) and Alex Gibson (14) guided their side to a highly competitive total of 8-188 from its 40 overs.

Blake Aggelis (2-30) took a couple of important wickets in the final over of the innings, preventing the Breakers from perhaps pushing the total closer to 200.

Ethan Bentley bowled well for the Spirit early, finishing with 2-37.

In response, the Spirit was never really in the hunt.

Extremely tight bowling from the outset by openers Woinarski and Emile Tate built pressure that led to consistent Spirit wickets.

The Spirit stumbled to 5-38 as each Breakers bowler did his job, restricting the batsmen while picking up wickets.

Miles Sellenger continued to pile on the pressure, going at less than two an over throughout his spell.

With the required run rate getting out of hand early, the loss of wickets meant that the Spirit simply couldn’t launch an attack to chase down the target.

The tail showed some fight but the task was out of the question.

The superb team bowling performance continued to restrict the runs, before the Spirit ran out of time, finishing with 9-95 from its 40 overs.

Woinarski set the tone early as he finished with match-best figures of 3-11 off his eight overs.

Sellenger wasn’t far behind with 3-14 off eight, while Harvey chipped in at the end with 1-3 off four.

Eli Duxson showed positive signs with the bat, outshining the more recognised Spirit batsmen with a mature 23 not out.

The Spirit fell 93 runs short, and despite finishing the championships on such a disappointing note, they can be proud of a brilliant team effort as well as some excellent individual performances throughout the tournament.

Rory Kalnins was the leading run scorer for the Spirit, finishing the championships with 162 runs (at an average of 40.5), while Aggelis (10 wickets) was the third ranked bowler overall.

For the Breakers, they had super-impressive tournament where they dominated from start to finish to ultimately become state champions.

Harvey was in a league of his own, awarded both the Player of the Final and the Player of the Series, finishing with an incredible 407 runs at an average of 67.83 – remember his name.

Woinarksi had a brilliant time as an all-rounder, picking up nine wickets and scoring 159 runs (at 39.75).

Sellenger was the tournament’s second-leading wicket taker with 12.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the championships – and especially to the winners, the South East Bayside Breakers.