Sam Sheriff, Hadleigh O'Leary and Joel Clark have been chosen for the Central Districts Under 17's after strong form for Wanganui U17 this week.
Sam Sheriff, Hadleigh O'Leary and Joel Clark have been chosen for the Central Districts Under 17's after strong form for Wanganui U17 this week.
The Ray White Wanganui Under 17 had to settle for being joint winners of the Central Districts age group tournament in Napier on Thursday after their final with Taranaki was rained out.
Wanganui won the toss and elected to bowl, having Taranaki at 62-2 after 18 overs when the match was abandoned.
Opener Terry Norgate was slow to get going and then bowled by Hunter Morrison for 2, while Jack Fowler (26 not out) shored up his end, hitting three boundaries.
Taranaki's No3 batsman Sebastian Lauderdale-Smith was caught out by Akhil Kumar off the bowling of Adam Lennox to have Taranaki at 38-2 in the 14th over.
Wanganui used six bowlers before play was rained off, with Lennox finishing with 1-12 off his six overs, while Kumar conceded only three runs off his four overs, including two maidens.
Acting as scorer, Cricket Wanganui's general manager Dilan Raj said team coach Charlie Hartley was impressed with the skills and execution of the group and their pride in representing Whanganui.
Captain Sam Sheriff, and bowlers Hadleigh O'Leary and Joel Clark were subsequently selected in the Central Districts Under 17 team, who will play the national tournament at Lincoln University in Canterbury, starting January 17.
The washout was a dampener on an otherwise excellent week for the Wanganui side, who on Monday beat Manawatu by eight wickets, then Hawke's Bay by five wickets on Tuesday, followed by Marlborough by seven wickets on Wednesday.
Kumar scored 181 runs in his three innings, finishing with an average of 90.5, while also taking five wickets at an average of 20.20.
O'Leary was the pick of the bowlers with six dismissals at an average of 14.83.
Sheriff contributed 88 runs and two wickets, with Clark was the most economical bowler with just 70 runs taken from his 156 balls, including two wickets.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, Air Chathams Wanganui senior player Akash Gill and his Central Districts Under 19 squad finished strongly at their national tournament in Lincoln during the Twenty20 section of play.
On Thursday, Central Districts defeated Canterbury by seven wickets, having restricted them to 133-8 and then reaching 134-3 in the 19th over.
Gill, playing a specialist batsman for the T20's, opened and was the linchpin of the run chase with 68 not out off 46 balls, including eight boundaries and a six.
Today, Central Districts beat Wellington by 38 runs.
This time, Gill was dismissed for 14 off 12 deliveries, but his side carried on to an impressive 177-6, then restricted Wellington to 139-8 from their 20 overs.
The result meant Central Districts finished third overall with a record for 4-3-1 from their games, while denying Wellington a chance at the title as they finished with a 5-3 record, while defending champions Auckland went back-to-back, finishing with a 6-2 record.
