VICTORIAN under 17 representative Nick King is one of five Warrnambool and District Cricket Association (WDCA) players in the Western Waves’ under 18 boys’ squad.
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The Dennington batsman joined Dogs teammate Ben Rantall, Allansford’s Hugh McCluggage, Wesley-CBC’s Matt Hoy and Port Fairy’s Joe Medew-Ewan in the 13-player squad which was unveiled yesterday for the state championships in Melbourne from January 11-14.
South West-aligned Callum McIlveen also made the final list which includes players from Hamilton, Horsham, West Wimmera, Wimmera-Mallee and Mount Gambier associations.
Waves under 18 coach Mick Rantall said they’d assembled a team with strong batting depth and a dangerous bowling attack.
“The boys are doing the training and we still have a couple of camps yet where we’ll hone the batting skills,” he said.
“We have recognised batsmen down to number seven so there is a big emphasis on that and the batsmen have to perform.
“We are taking four spinners so that’s a little bit different.”
Angus Boyd and Darcy Preston were selected in the team as all-rounders.
Rantall said the pair were equally as dangerous as spinners or with bat in hand.
Medew-Ewan and McIlveen, who plays for Pomborneit, are the Waves’ other spin options.
Rantall said it was difficult to pick a bowling line-up for the state championships, which consist of 50-over games. “At the last trial we had nine or 10 medium pacers who were very similar so it made it tough,” he said.
The Waves won one match at the championships earlier this year but Rantall said they were in all of their matches and rued concentration lapses.
“It is going to be interesting,” he said.
“The competition is very good.
“Last year our biggest losing margin was 13 runs.
“We’d have a 10-minute spell throughout the game where we didn’t perform.
“Our fielding has to be on.”
Western Waves also announced their under 14 boys’ squad yesterday.
It includes six WDCA players — Nick Robertson, Jacob Brooks, Bailey Jenkinson, Alex Jennings, Dominic Bandara and Tom Jackson — with Isaac Wareham South West’s sole representative for the January 19-23 tournament.
The Waves are still in the process of selecting their under 16 boys’ team and their girls’ squads.
justine.mc@fairfaxmedia.com.au
