Vic Country defeat NT at U19 Champs

Winning the toss and batting first, Vic Country openers Brayden Stepien (87) and Ryan Hartley (76) hit the NT attack to all parts in their partnership of 152.

Although wickets were lost at regular intervals after that opening stand, it didn’t stop Vic Country from reaching 6-241 from their 50 overs with Blake Thomson (28) and Thomas Ewing (20*) also chipping in with the bat.

Victorian Sam Elliott took 1-42 from seven overs for NT and continued his impressive tournament to date.

NT were never in the hunt to track down the massive score, after losing two early wickets to be 2-26, they lost 5-20 as their middle order crumbled on the back of some excellent bowling form Vic Country.

They were eventually bowled out for 150 in the final over of their innings.

The wickets were shared around between Vic Country’s bowlers, Liam Bowe (3-25), Cameron Brown (2-17), Angus Boyd (2-42), Xavier Crone (1-15), Jackson Mockett (1-15) and Blake Thomson (1-21) all claiming scalps in a 91-run win.

It was a rather different story for the Metro side, who struggled with the bat against a very impressive Western Australian side.

Winning the toss and batting first appeared the ideal scenario, however, things quickly turned sour for Metro, who slumped to 3-29.

A fightback was led by Jackson Waters (66) and Liam Banthorpe (33), as Metro were able to push their score to 9-192 at the compulsory close.

WA were unstoppable in their chase, after a 71-run opening partnership took the wind out of Vic Metro’s sails.

They reached the target for the loss of just two wickets in the 42^nd over – Gehan Seneviratne and Sam Grimwade were the only wicket takers for the Vics.

The CA XI continue to impress against older opposition, claiming another win against Queensland yesterday.

Victorian Blake Parsons took 1-23 from eight overs as they downed their northern opponents by just seven runs in a closely fought encounter.

Today on the fourth day of competition Vic Country will be looking to continue their good form as they do battle with South Australia and Vic Metro will want to bounce back when they take on Tasmania.