Under 12s Update

Hi Everyone

Welcome back to cricket after the summer break. I hope you all enjoyed the holidays.
It’s been a chaotic Round 7 for most teams and I thank you all for your patience with the last minute changes to teams and playing times. Particular thanks to all those players who played in different squads or grades during Round 7, your flexibility enables to the club to function better and benefits us all. There will continue to be some changes needed for the final 2 rounds as some of our older players become involved in APS sport on Saturday mornings.

While many of us had a break at the beginning of January, four of our Under 12A players were working extra hard playing representative cricket for SECA (South East Cricket Association). After training and trials last year, Lachlan McCluskey was selected to represent SECA in the Mitchell Shield and 3 Brighton players in the Josh Browne Competition. The teams were phenomenally successful winning every match that they played and coming away winners in both competitions. I received the following reports:

Mitchell Shield
At the beginning of December the coaches looked at our squad and thought “bowling looks good, fielding OK, but our batters are too scared to hit the ball, how are we going to make enough runs to win matches?”. Well a lot can change in 6 weeks. Their Coach demanded the highest standards, no slackness was tolerated. And the boys responded brilliantly, every single player contributed something at various stages in the tournament. They certainly played for each other, it was a real team.

They went through the tournament without losing a match and dominated in the finals. The Grand Final was against an unbeaten ISEC team who had the best bowling record in the competition, so it was no easy task. But the team performed and tamed ISECs attack on the big stage, the SECA batters chased down 147 in 26 overs.

Our players have grown in confidence and in their ability to think their way through problems….they are incomparably better players than they were at the start of the tournament.

Josh Browne Plate
Over the first two weeks of January, Ben Edmondson, Brendan Reddell and Lachlan Zissis from the under 12A team represented SECA in the Josh Brown Plate. The boys from Brighton all had a part to play in the success of the team and the fact that the team went through undefeated to win the JB plate was something the boys will cherish for the rest of their lives and the impact on their development as cricketers will be invaluable. It was a great experience not only for the boys but also their families who were there to witness all 640 overs played across the 2 week tournament!

Interestingly we played three games in the SECA campaign against Ringwood District CA, one practise game, the final game in the qualification rounds and lastly the Grand Final. In each game we batted first and each match went down to the final over and on each occasion the boys managed to find a way to win. So although we were undefeated the matches were by no means easy.

Congratulations to Lachlan McCluskey, Ben Edmondson, Brendan Reddell and Lachlan Zissis for their hard work and well-earned success. It was fantastic for Brighton CC to be so well represented in the SECA squads.

Saturday 12 March – Grand Finals & Awards Day
As the season draws to a close we will have medals and trophies for each team. These will be presented at Brighton Beach Oval from 12noon onwards. More details will follow closer to the time but please save the date so all the Under 12 players can gather to celebrate the end of the season.
Several of our teams are in the running to be taking part in the finals. Please keep the dates free in case your child is involved. The finals will be held on the following dates:

Semi-Finals – 28 February & 6 March
Grand Final – 12 & 13 March (Saturday & Sunday).

There’s an updated Honours Board below, just 2 rounds left for players to put in a good performance that will challenge the leading performances. All the players can see their individual statistics on My Cricket to track their progress throughout the season. Hopefully all players can see some improvement in their performances and set their own personal targets.

Enjoy the last couple of rounds.

Go Tonners!