All-round McGregor powers C section squad to junior country week title

The junior under-14 C country week team breezed home against Bunbury in their country week grand final to claim top honours and finish a dominant week. In what has been a tough tournament for other sides, the C-section side were all class in their final, winning by six wickets to ensure Geraldton took home some silverware from junior country week. After just one loss in the group stages to Bunbury, Geraldton finished in second place and took on Upper Great Southern in the semifinal. They had beaten that side by eight wickets in their group stage clash. Geraldton were sent into bat and made a solid start with Haylen Pizzey and Kian Smit, putting on 39 runs for the opening partnership before carnage ensued. After Pizzey fell for eight, Geraldton lost eight wickets for 41 runs, with Smith the last man out for 35. He was the only batter to reach double figures as they folded for 80. However, Geraldton rallied with the ball, putting Great Southern under pressure, immediately removing both openers for two. At 3-11, Geraldton were on top but Tom Brown (29) provided resistance before he retired not out. This opened the door for Geraldton, who initiated a collapse of 3-8 and though Brown returned it was too late as they were shot out for a paltry 54. Hamish Reynolds had the best figures of 2-8 off his three overs but wickets were shared throughout the line-up in a terrific team performance. Facing Bunbury in the final, they won the toss and chose to bowl as Lucas McGregor, 3-11, ripping through the top order and at 7-89 would have been hopeful of keeping the target under three figures. But a stubborn eight-wicket partnership pushed the score to 108 a challenging score in a final. They got off to a steady start but lost two quick wickets to be 2-23 before Smit and Reuben Boonzaier put on 46 for the third wicket before Boonzaier was unfortunately run out. Luke Gardiner fell shortly afterwards with the game still up for grabs at 4-75 but McGregor played a brutal innings with an unbeaten 45 off just 29 balls with eight fours as Geraldton passed the total in the 19th over just four wickets down and take the final. There was little joy for other teams in the closing stages of the tournament as the under-14 A section squad did not win another game after their opening day win. In their final game against Albany, they were blighted by a lower-order partnership after reducing Albany to 6-126 the seventh wicket remained unbroken putting on 84 runs to push the total to 210. Geraldton fell in a heap in response, bundled out for 83 which represented something of a recovery after being 5-11. Darcy Giltrow finished with 212 runs for the tournament at an average of 70.7 in an outstanding personal tournament. The under-16 A side were consigned to a winless tournament after being outclassed by Cricket North-West in their final game. After going through the group stage without a win, they were playing off for fifth place but after an opening partnership of 41 could only muster 98 after choosing to bat first. They took just one wicket falling to Rex Heberle as Geraldton fell to a nine-wicket loss to round off a disappointing tournament.