Dubbo may have finished its Western NSW Under-15s Carnival at Orange with two straight losses but Connor Watts had reason to smile after finishing as leading run-scorer.
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After starting with a bang and scoring two straight wins, Dubbo was defeated by Blacktown on Wednesday and then the ACT on Thursday, the final day of competition.
But in a competition which took in players from the likes of the nation’s capital, South Coast, the Riverina and Sydney, it was Watts who made the most runs.
He was a consistent performer for Dubbo, making three half centuries on the first three days.
The CYMS young gun finished his campaign with 182 runs at an average of 45 and a highest score of 62.
Dubbo’s carnival, with a side featuring a number of the city’s promising juniors, finished with a 104-run loss to the ACT at Orange’s Country Club Oval.
Conner Albert top-scored for Dubbo with 36 in the loss while Rhys Beauchamp and Rylie Chaseling each took two wickets.
Those efforts proved in vain though as the Canberra-based side piled on 8/240 from its 40 overs before dismissed Dubbo for just 136.
The highlights for Dubbo were no doubt the first two days where wins over wins over Shoalhaven and Wagga were recorded.
While Watts was a standout, Beauchamp and Rugby’s promising RSL-Whitney Cup player Ben Wheeler were others who impressed.
Wheeler’s spin bowling was particularly effective for Dubbo. He finished with eight wickets for the tournament, with spells of 4/29 from nine against Wagga and 2/29 from 10 against Shoalhaven the highlights.
Meanwhile in the main matches on Thursday, spectacular individual performances from Bella Grieg and Yuvraj Sharma inspired their ACT and Blacktown sides to grand final victories.
Grieg smashed a game-high 67 to catapult the ACT to a winning total while Sharma, Blacktown’s skipper and the main who made a match-winning 70 from 108 balls against Dubbo on Wednesday, produced a much-needed captain’s knock to finish 32 not out in his side’s successful chase after picking up a crucial wicket earlier in the day.
The two sides denied the fairytale, all-Western Zone double by beating the Western girls’ team and Mitchell Cricket Council, respectively.
The ACT is the first team to claim the girls’ title after the Orange District Junior Cricket Association established the tournament this summer, while it’s the first time in the carnivals’ 22-year history Blacktown will be etched onto the trophy.
