Townsville Cricket: Brothers Zachary Hayes smashes district’s biggest juniors century in decade

A North Queensland junior representative smashed 14 fours and 16 sixes in one of the most destructive batting performances in Townsville cricket history. See our full weekend breakdown:

Townsville A Grade Cricket game between Brothers and Wests at Cutheringa. Brothers Zachary Hayes. Picture: Evan Morgan

Brothers junior Zac Hayes belted 167 runs off 79 balls to underline his reputation as one of North Queensland’s most promising emerging cricketers in recent memory.

Hayes, 16, has been a fixture in Brothers’ A-grade team this season but a senior bye round opened a window of opportunity to return to join his age group mates on the opening day of the junior season.

The North Queensland representative smashed 14 fours and 16 sixes in one of the most destructive performances at this level in Townsville.

Since online records began in 2007-08, only one player has scored more runs in a single junior innings: Jack Growden of Norths, who scored 172 in round 2 of the 2013-2014 under-18s season.

Jack Growden was an accomplished junior cricketer for Norths and AFL player for Hermit Park Tigers. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Brothers president Kevin Buchanan said Hayes’ outstanding performance was a product of a relentless appetite for practice and the support of a proud family, including his father Adam, a former star paceman for Saints in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

“He hits a lot of balls, four to six days a week,” Buchanan said.

“Unfortunately, his dad (former player Adam Hayes) is the one who has to throw them at him.

“It would be very rare I come down to the club and they’re not the only two down there.

“Zac loves the game and has the biggest appetite for runs I’ve seen in a kid for years and a real focus to improve his cricket.

“If he wants to (make it as a professional cricketer), he’s got the work ethic to do it and definitely the talent.”

Hayes’ father said his son had done most of the work on his own.

“A lot of it is on his own,’’ Adam said. “I’ve been doing a lot of throwing and bowling to him but most of it is on his accord.

Saints’ Adam Hayes bats against Wests during the 2003 Townsville A Grade cricket season. Picture: Stewart Mclean

“His work ethic, the time and effort he puts in when he is training, he commits 100 per cent to it. He is all in.

“He asks me to go to the nets every day – he doesn’t get it every day – but every chance he gets, even during the AFL off-season.”

Hayes said his son scored the majority of his 167 runs on Saturday between mid-on and mid-off, with the occasional short ball dispatched between square leg and mid-wicket.

Hayes began his innings in composed fashion with eight runs in his first 15 balls.

He scored the next 42 runs in 17 balls and brought up his ton by clearing the fences for a six 23 balls after that. In total, Hayes completed his century in 55 balls – and then the shackles came off.

Hayes moved from 104 to 167 in 23 balls.

The innings by Hayes carried Brothers past Norths’ total of 5-182, having accounted for 73 per cent of his side’s 229 runs.

No other teammate scored more than 17.

Adam Hayes said Zac’s long-term ambition was to play for Australia and that the family was keeping eyes open for an opportunity to continue Zac’s development and education at a southern school on a sporting scholarship should an offer arise.

Heath O’Brien leads Sub Parks to drought-breaking win over Norths

Suburban Parks has beaten Norths for the first time in nearly three years to secure its first major scalp of the Townsville Cricket summer.

The Redbacks chased down Norths’ 178 to win by seven wickets with 19 overs to spare, snapping a winless streak against that opposition stretching back to December 2021.

Captain Chris Gartrell is one of two remaining members of the team that last beat Norths and delivered an important 48 not-out to break one of district’s longest-standing droughts.

Opening bat Heath O’Brien (inset, 57 off 27) scored a half-century at a ferocious strike rate of 211 to kickstart the chase, raising the bat in just 21 deliveries.

South African great AB de Villiers set the international one-day record of 50 in 16 balls against the West Indies in 2015, illustrating the remarkable pace that O’Brien began at.

The second-year Sub Parks man struck nine boundaries, clearing the rope six times, to terrorise Norths’ attack.

Opposition captain Lane Kohler, a lightning-quick representative pace bowler who joined Norths late last season, bore the brunt of O’Brien’s punishment.

In nine deliveries O’Brien carved off 37 runs, including four consecutive sixes to close out the eighth over.

Kohler ended with figures of 1-58 from 6.1 overs, though he was far from alone in struggling to stem the bleeding with the ball.

Fellow representative star Travis Busch laboured through one of the toughest bowling spells of his local career, conceding 39 runs from five overs for no wickets.

Busch batted well in the first innings, topscoring with 48 to guide Norths to a promising position at 3-115 in the 33rd over.

Busch’s dismissal, bowled by Shaun Green, pumped the brakes on the innings.

The side was bowled out in the 49th over for 175, having lost seven wickets for 63 runs.

Wests pace trio skittles Wanderers to seize top of table

At Wests, an imperious bowling performance in the second innings saw the hosts crush Wanderers for a 122-run victory.

Wanderers performed well to leave Wests 9-167 after an 83-run second wicket partnership between Sam Lowry (51) and Sahan Wijayasekara (42) had lifted the Magpies to 2-110.

Matt Ahern and Phillip Angel took the key wickets to trigger a breakthrough, taking the next seven wickets for 53 runs.

They could not maintain the pressure with the bat as Wests’ fearsome pace trio of Ben Ramsbotham (4-16), Justin Dixon (3-21) and Kyle Dearness (3-7) struck early and often to bowl Wanderers out for 45.

The win raised Wests ahead of Brothers (bye) atop the ladder after four weeks of competition and left Wanderers at its bottom.

Originally published as Townsville Cricket: Brothers Zachary Hayes smashes district’s biggest juniors century in decade