Victoria goes back-to-back

Claiming a 14-run victory, the boys completed the tournament with four wins to share the gold medal with Queensland.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Victorians managed a total of 132, with the Northern Rivers’ Ryan O’Keefe top-scoring on 21 followed by the Barwon Rockets’ Josh Garner with 20.

In reply, NSW raced to 5-97 with Mitchell Crayn (38) and Jamal Shoaib (24) leading the charge.

Needing some quick wickets, the South East Bayside Breakers’ Campbell Kellaway (3-11), O’Keefe (1-11) and the Southern Pioneers’ Kevin Seth (2-11) combined in the last period of the day to claim 4-10, putting NSW in a tough position.

The last wicket of the day saw Brady Polkinghorne (9) caught at mid-on, giving Victoria the win with NSW bowled out for 118.

“It was very exciting and I’m really happy for the kids,” Victorian coach Dave Gallacher said.

“In our last two games we had runs on the board and it really came down to our tight bowling with the boys holding themselves together under pressure.

“We had limited preparation with only three sessions, so to see the boys gel and come together as a team quickly was great.”

In the girls’ division, Victoria also tied with Queensland for third to earn the bronze medal.

Completing the tournament with two wins, the final round saw the Victorians suffer a loss to NSW.

As the competition’s fourth highest run scorer with 128 runs, the South East Sharks’ Merinda Hale continued her good form, again top-scoring with 33 to lead Victoria to 7-110 after 35 overs.

Although the Southern Pioneers’ Jessica Matin (2-15), the Outer East Eagles’ Tess Flintoff (2-17) and the North East Knights’ Georgia Moorman (1-14) tore through the opening NSW line-up, a 42-run knock from Kareena Dawson saw NSW reach the total in 25 overs.

Matin finished the tournament as the third highest wicket taker with seven while Kellaway was the second highest wicket taker in the boys’ division with eight.