OUTER East Eagles Under 16s Dowling Shield and Under 18s East Metro Girls have both secured spots in the Cricket Victoria State Championships grand final.
The past two weeks has been filled with the crack of bat on ball across Victoria as 16 Regions from all corners of the state have competed to be the State Champions.
Both boys and girls participated in three age groups, Under 14s, Under 16s and Under18s, playing a minimum of five games across the week on Premier through to club grounds.
In more recent times, the likes of Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Aaron Finch, Meg Lanning, Jess Cameron and Julie Hunter have come through the pathway to represent Australia at the highest level.
Throughout the respective competitions, it is expected to see the next generation of Victorian Bushrangers and VicSpirit who will come through the ranks to represent the state.
After months of training and trials, the Championships are the culmination of many hour of tireless hard work, not only from the representatives, but also from the many coaches, administrators, scorers, umpires, officials and parents to reach this point.
The Outer East Eagles have come through this year with great results, Under 18s Boys just missing in the live Quarter Finals, Under 16s and Under 14s girls both finishing fifth, Under 14s Boys losing two very close matches.
However, the take-aways have been enormous.
And now to our two finalists, Under 16s ‘Dowling Shield’ boys who play Sunday, 31 January, at Geelong Cricket Ground taking on the undefeated Northern Rivers (Bendigo/Shepparton area) coached by Brendan Walsh, Jake Wigney and Jim Ahon who have led the boys professionally always with the philosophy that this competition is about making better cricketers and providing the players with the processes to be successful, which has clearly paid dividends.
The semi-final at Yarra Valley Grammar came down to nine wickets lost, three runs off two balls.
The last ball wasn’t needed as Liam Dunning took to the bowler, sending the ball back over his head and running three with partner Nicholas McDonald. All players have contributed across the carnival and should feel very proud.
The Under 18s East Metro girls is a combined team with the Inner East who play on the MCG, 7 February, game begins at 8am and entry is free.
They also take on Country favourite Mallee Murray Heat, Brendan Walsh, from Ringwood Cricket Club is assistant coach along with Tim Reid from Box Hill CC and Rebecca Carter, who herself has paved her cricket career through the pathways for the Inner East Emus.
Maddie Wright showed her experience with both bat (84no and 73no) and ball (best 2/8) through this carnival, captaining the girls strategically and maturely.
They played some high quality cricket across every game.
The youngest member of the group, Tess Flintoff, who has also just returned from Brisbane captaining the 12 & Under School Girls team to a silver medal in the national competition, was elevated to the Under 18s.
She batted in the top order confidently and contributed in each game.
