Rochester junior cricketers finals bound

In the final three home-and-away matches of the season — which start on Friday, January 20 — the Rochester outfit faces Echuca in a one-day match, before tackling Echuca South and Cooma in the two-day format.

Rochester and Echuca have not played this season, with Rochester’s three wins coming against Kyabram Fire Brigade, Tongala and Bamawm Lockington United.

In the remaining game, a two-day match against Moama, Rochester was beaten by 25 runs.

Oliver Williams, Liam Edge and Jordy Rasmussen have led the underage team brilliantly this season, Williams with 114 runs, Edge on an all round front and Rasmussen with nine wickets.

There are some outstanding numbers being posted in the competition, among them Fire Brigade number three batter Lachlan Carver.

He will be planning to build on an amazing pre-Christmas average of 159, which has him among the leading run scorers in the competition.

Carver has retired unbeaten on three occasions and finished 66 not out in his other visit to the crease for an exceptional four-match return, which has his team sitting fourth on the ladder.

The third-generation sports star has also taken three wickets at 13.67 this season, adding to his super start to the 2022-23 season.

Carver’s all-round teammate Oliver Barnett has 94 runs at 31.33 this season, while his five wickets further add to his contribution to the team’s top-four standing.

Marginally behind Carver is Bamawm Lockington United opening batter Cade Pearse, who has 154 runs and has been dismissed only once. He has two half centuries to his credit this season.

Pearse also has five wickets to his credit.

Moama batter Luke Stone (162 runs) is the competition’s top run scorer.

Hunter Fawcett’s recovery from an opening-round duck against Fire Brigade has been outstanding and he has followed that up with 122 runs without being dismissed in the past three rounds.

Fawcett also has five wickets at 7.80 to be among the best all-round performers this season.

Rochester batter Oliver Williams has been dismissed only once and is another averaging in excess of 100 (114 in fact), while all-rounder teammate Liam Edge has six wickets at 8.83 and 73 runs to his credit (as does a third Rochester batter Hamish Stewart).

Jordy Rasmussen, another of the third-ranked Rochester team’s stars, has nine wickets this season. That is an effort matched by Fire Brigade’s leading wicket taker, Riley Carver, who has taken his wickets at an average of 7.11.

Bill Hipwell from Cooma (60 runs and six wickets), Braith Northausen (87 runs at 43.50), BLU’s Lucas Holgate (60 runs and four wickets) and Tongala’s Jessie Johnstone (five wickets) are among the other top Under-16 cricketers.

Ben Bloomfield and Aidan Roulston from Rochester both have three wickets apiece.