The depth of the Illawarra’s junior cricket stocks were on display throughout January, with a host of boys and girls teams taking part in tournaments across the state.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Among the top performing teams was the under 13 boys Illawarra side that completed an undefeated Orange Carnival.
The boys claimed victories over Penrith, ACT Yellow, Inner West Harbour and Parramatta, ultimately finishing second behind ACT Blue based on net run rate.
While disappointed with the result, captain Bailey Abela was pleased with his team’s performances.
“The boys went through undefeated in that carnival, we ended up running second to ACT on net run rate, which was pretty disappointing,” Abela said. “But we couldn't do much more, we were undefeated, I thought the boys had a really good week and played really well.”
Abela’s summer of cricket continued in late January, where he lined up alongside fellow Illawarra players Angus Campbell and Ryan Cattle to contest the Under 13 State Challenge.
Playing for Country Thunder South-East, the boys shone throughout the tournament.
The side ultimately took out the competition, with Abela taking 3-14 in the final in a crucial bowling spell that swung the match back in his team’s favour.
“That was pretty good, Metro Thunder were sort of fighting back. We started on top, but they were fighting back, so it was good to take a couple of wickets in the middle overs and swing the game back in our favour.
“With our team, we didn’t have one star player. We had 13 excellent cricketers and every player contributed in at least one game.”
Having had his first taste of higher-level representative cricket, Abela is looking forward to knuckling down throughout the remainder of the summer and achieving further honours in the coming years.
“Now I’ll finish up the club season, then get back into it all again next year.
“I’d like to make the State Challenge team again, go well there, and hopefully keep making runs in Illawarra and club cricket.”