JUNIOR representative cricket resumed on Sunday as Armidale travelled to Inverell to tackle the heavyweights of the Northern Inland junior competition.
In the heat, the under-14s and 16s suffered their first losses of the season – coming off the back of a win against Tamworth last round – while Armidale’s under-12s didn’t disappoint their supporters grasping the opportunity to secure an emphatic win.
Setting Inverell a target of 110 runs, Armidale bowled its opposition out for 97.
Marley Lynch top-scored with 36 and was well supported by Ben Friend, who made 17 not out. Vincent Marshall’s 2/12 from six overs helped restrict the opposition’s scoring rate, and Nick Page also nabbed two wickets.
Two direct-hit run outs courtesy of Ben Hamilton and Cotter Litchfield highlighted an energetic performance in the field from the young players, despite the heat.
In the under-14s, despite his team’s loss, Liam Neeson continued his splendid season by bringing up his third half-century in four games for Armidale.
Neeson fought hard to claw his team to 121, but Inverell were able to chase that total down in just under half their allocated overs.
Inverell’s Jaiden Tasker did most of the damage against Armidale.
He opened the bowling and conceded only 18 runs from his nine overs, took a brilliant catch in slips and then put on the keeping gloves in order to effect a stumping.
He then headed up Inverell’s batting line-up and scored 87 of his team’s 122 runs to just about win the game single-handedly.
For the under-16s, Jack Bennett top-scored with 48 in his side’s chase of Inverell’s 190, however his team fell short by 90 runs.
Will Archer and Darcy Jackson took two wickets each.
Notwithstanding their losses last weekend, Armidale maintains a healthy position in all three grades and all teams will be hoping for wins against Coona/Quirindi this Sunday to help put them in strong contention for a finals berth in three weeks’ time.
