Term 1 Cricket Wrap

Despite the first week of school being cancelled, we still managed to rearrange and fit in all of our cricket fixtures for the term. We have again been very successful in our lower school games with a win percentage of 75% over those year groups. There were no 5 wicket hauls this term in lower school too add to the trophy, but we have two new names on the Hundred Club trophy with Jayden Rotham (Year 9) and Jaxon Goodchild (Year 8) both scoring their first Hundred’s for Belridge Secondary College.

Our 2nd XI's had their best year yet making the finals for the first time in nine years in the WACA’s Graeme Wood Shield T20 competition. Led by Chris Roberts (Captain) and Jaxon Poole (Vice Captain) we won all but one of our pool matches, except one which ended up being the winners of the competition. Taj McDonald got his second hatrick in 2nd XI cricket this term and had some exceptional games with the ball. The final was held at Peet Park on Wednesday the 24th of March and despite a great effort we lost the semi by 30 runs and ended up in the play-off competing for 3rd or 4th place. The boys put in another monster effort and came away with the win making us 3rd in the state T20 competition.

We are the Kim Hughes Champions again!

On Monday the 29th of March the 1st XI Team made it through to another Grand Final in the Kim Hughes Shield, which is the WACA’s premier secondary schools cricket in 50 over competition. Apart from one early loss this season, the boys have hardly missed a beat dominating all of our games with some great overall performances. Led by Cooper Connolly (Winner of Hyundai Junior Sports Star of the year and Captain of our team) and Kai Orr (Vice Captain) our 1st XI Team has been able to convincingly win games and to show what talented students/cricketers they are. The Grand Final was played at Murdoch University this year and our opponents were Daleyellup College, who were first in the country pool and beat John Forrest in the semi-final to get through to the finals. We won the toss and batted first and lost some early wickets, however, Cooper Connolly and Nic Davidson brought us back putting on a match winning partnership and performance.

Cooper broke school records in the grand final including the highest score by a student scoring 211 runs! Nic batted superbly, as well finishing on 70 not out. We bowled out the opposition for 189 with Cooper and Regan Spear both getting three wickets each. The boys have now gone back-to-back champions of this competition and we are all very proud of their efforts.

Scott Ogilvie
Specialist Cricket Program Coordinator 

Belridge Cricket team extinguish the Western Fury!

A number of lucky Belridge cricket students were selected to play at the WACA against the State Women’s cricket team, The Western Fury, on Wednesday 10 February. The game was organised as a practice match for the Fury before they travelled across to Tasmania to play in the WNCL (Women’s National Cricket League).

The Fury won the toss and elected to bat first. Both their openers batted extremely well, against some solid bowling from our two bowlers Daniel Corry and Harrison Brice, putting on a big 100 run partnership until we eventually got a breakthrough.

The Fury were building a formidable target as they reached 2-180 in the 34th over. Erin Martin (Year 9) and Breanna Giandzi (Year 11) had the opportunity to bowl to some of their cricketing idols, which was a really great experience for them both. Our last 15 overs were really tidy, led by Oskar Le Blanc (3 wickets), Zac Caporn (1 wicket) and Kai Orr (1 wicket). The Fury finished 9-255 after 50 overs.

In response, Belridge had a wobbly start losing two early wickets within the first 10 overs. Daniel Corry and Riley Gillespie steadied the ship and put on a nice partnership before both losing their wicket before the first drinks break. Kai Orr (70 runs) and Matt Carroll (57 runs) batted superbly and put Belridge back into contention to win the match with a big 100 run partnership. Unfortunately, both batsman fell in quick succession which put the tail enders under pressure to finish the game. With 24 balls remaining in the match Belridge needed 34 runs with 2 wickets in hand. Enter Oskar Le Blanc ‘THE FINISHER’, as he is more affectionately known now, who came in and blundered the attack, catapulting Belridge to a nail biting win with 3 balls remaining in the game!

It was a fantastic opportunity for our students to play against quality opposition at the home of cricket. We thank the Fury for the invitation to play them. A huge thank you to all our students who represented Belridge proudly once again.

Mr Spinks
Health & Physical Education Teacher