The Cricket Australia U17 National Male Championships in Ballarat have to come to an end, with Western Australia finishing third after a productive week.
WA finish third at U17 Championships
WA started off the week in dominant form, winning each of their four preliminary matches to see them finish on top of the ladder heading into the semi-final stage.
After a convincing run to the semi-final, they came up against a powerful NSW Metro side who proved too strong on the day.
WA won the toss and elected to bat first on a deteriorating University of Tasmania Stadium wicket, and immediately fell into trouble, slumping to 6-30.
Franklin Stewart Lough (33) provided some resistance with some attacking strokeplay, while Isaac Diamanti (16) and Matthew Lough (14) were able to support at the other end as WA edged their way to 100 all out.
In reply, NSW Metro made light work of the under-par total, winning the match by eight wickets with more than 18 overs to spare.
A third-place play off then followed the next day, with WA getting back to their best form with a convincing 171-run victory over NSW Country.
Skipper Will Malajczuk (131 off 74) stood up for his side to produce the standout knock of the tournament, an innings that included seven fours and twelve sixes. He then completed an incredible allround performance, by taking 5-44 off ten overs with the ball.
The performance capped off a fine week for Malajczuk, who finished as the tournament’s second leading run-scorer with 337 at a remarkable average of 84.25.
His eight wickets at 19.5 were second-best for his side, only bettered by Scarborough allrounder Zed Hollick (9 at 15).
Hollick (179 at 35.8) and Dylan Ratter (154 at 30.8) were the other main contributors for the talented WA squad, who backed up their second-place finish in last year’s Championships by winning five of their six matches in this year’s tournament.