Queensland’s under 19 cricket teams, male and female
Howzat for Queensland under 19 cricket team talent? We reveal the junior clubs and unmask early images of the state’s top male and female teen talents named for the national championships.
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Big hitting Rex Tooley is a selection bolter in the Queensland under 19 male side to contest the national championships in Albury in December.
The male under 19s will be staged December 2-8, while Brisbane will host the female national championships, December 14-21.
Tooley has blasted his way into the side following a bumper season with Western Suburbs, including a match winning 56 not out from just 32 balls last Saturday.
Tooley, a Sunshine Coast hinterland junior, arrives in the side via Toowoomba Grammar School and Western Suburbs where he has blossomed under elite coach Peter Steindl.
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Other key selection points include:
+ Batsman Alexander Procopis (Northern Suburbs) and wily leg spinner Brayden Meegama (Uni) continued to advance their games, graduating into the 19s after playing for the Queensland 17s last season.
+ Australian under 19 captain Hugh Weibgen being sidelined with a back stress fracture.
+ elite sporting all-rounder Lucinda Bourke, a St Margaret’s Anglican Girls’ School boarder from Warwick, is also an Australian Rugby Sevens Youth Commonwealth Games representative
+ stylish Terrace old boy and Wests No.3. Tom Campbell was ushered into the side after coming of age following a switch to the Western Suburbs club.
+ the son of a gun, Zak McDermott has followed in the footsteps of his father Craig, a 291 Test wicket champion, by representing Queensland.
+ Pace bowler Lily Bassingthwaighte continued to tick off the milestone after her Queensland female selection.
Tooley has always displayed considerable potential, and the opportunity to future his cricket in Brisbane has helped bring out the best in his game.
The Queensland male team is:
Alexander Procopis (Northern Suburbs)
A Maroochydore junior who has been somewhat of a schoolboy batting prodigy. He is the only player from this year’s national title winning Queensland 17s to progress into the Queensland 19s in the same year.
Angus Tolhurst (Western Suburbs)
From the Brisbane Grammar School family, Tolhurst hails from the leafy western suburbs and is a winner.
He helped transform BGS from an improving side in 2021 into the GPS First XV premiership winners last season, stiffening up the BGS late order batting and being bloody minded with his economical left arm spin.
Ashton Gumm (Gold Coast)
From the golden beaches of the Gold Coast comes Gumm, yet another graduate of Steve Baker’s extraordinary production line of cricketers from The Southport School. Coming from TSS, Gumm knows how to get teams over the line.
Brayden Meegama (University of Queensland)
Brisbane boy Meegama loves cricket so much, he played it summer - and winter. Indeed as a Winter Cricket player he raised eyebrows by spinning out five senior players.
Meegama was the baby of the BSHS First XI cricket squad earlier this year, but we expect him to play next summer. His older brother, Maynard Meegama, was an established grade player after playing First XI for BSHS.
Callum Vidler (Valley)
The fast bowling Australian under 19 tearaway hails from Brisbane Grammar School country and has been a revelation coming through both the BGS and Valley ranks.
Cody Reynolds (Gold Coast)
Another from the Gold Coast’s glitter strip, the tall Reynolds joined Vidler and were fast bowling colleagues on the recent Australian under 19 tour of England.
Reynolds grandfather, Ray, scored 3693 runs for Queensland at 46 in the 1960s.
Tom Campbell (Western Suburbs)
As we also alluded to earlier, Campbell is a stylish No. 3 batsman who has gone from strength to strength at Wests. He was the best batsman in the GPS First XI competition when he came through earlier this decade representing Terrace and is the real deal.
James Pullar (Redlands)
The Bulimba Bears junior from the inner eastern suburbs, has long promised so much, and he continues to deliver. A left hander, he’d peel off a century in the juniors - and then take wickets. He has been a Queensland representative coming through the grades.
Lachlan Aitken (Gold Coast)
What is in the water on the Gold Coast? The region can sure find an elite sporting junior. A Broadbeach Robina junior, the Hillcrest Christian College product was the Australian under 19 gloveman in England in August and September.
Luke Wegner (South Brisbane)
A South Brisbane junior, Wegner also hails from the sporting rich soils of Ipswich Grammar School where, earlier this year, he claimed 6-36 - remarkably in a losing side. He has been playing representative cricket since aged 12 years.
Matthew Wilkins (Mulgrave CC, Cairns)
A Babinda boy, Wilkin is a ripper of a talent from Far North Queensland who hails from the wettest region in the country that also doubles as a goldmine of sporting talent.
Now a Mulgrave Cricket Club player, Wilkins made the Queensland Country under 19s. He is a renowned team player, a great bloke to have around the dressing room and nets, and an exciting game day performer as a top order batsman.
Zak McDermott (Gold Coast)
We have been waiting for McDermott to break into the state side. He has had two absolutely superb seasons in succession with The Southport School, shining with his medium fast deliveries and capable batting. The son of Test champion Craig, the Gold Coast-raised McDermott once bowled to the Test side as a net bowler in 2013.
Rex Tooley (Western Suburbs)
As mentioned earlier, Tooley comes from the beautiful Maleny district in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. His cricketing education ramped up when he boarded at Toowoomba Grammar School - the old school of Queensland legend Martin Love - and his game has gone up a gear at the Western Suburbs club in Brisbane.
The Queensland under 19 female squad is pretty established, with Sianna Ginger (Qld Fire), Lucy Hamilton (Qld Fire and Brisbane Heat) and Bonnie Berry (Fire & Heat) are the obvious standouts, while Bassingthwaighte is a pace bowling spearhead.
Tarah Staines (Sunshine Coast)
Another from the Wide Bay production at the northern end of the Sunshine Coast catchment, Staines was originally from Monto where she was a school leader, softball, netball, cricket and basketball star.
Lucinda Bourke (Valley)
We mentioned earlier, Bourke is a sporting young gun who runs like the wind in Rugby 7s, and plays cricket with great gusto.
Isabel Goffage (Western Suburbs)
We have been monitoring Goffage for several years and it is great to see her going on with the job she started as a junior. Our photo below captures her playing for St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School.
Sianna Ginger (Valley)
What a player. The rookie, originally from Townsville, earlier this year tried on her first Fire cap. An Annandale Prep student as a tiny tot, she would have been one of the first players chosen in the side. She now plays with the Valley club.
Grace Collins (Wynnum-Manly)
A natural born cricketer originally from Maryborough - the home town of a Bulls legend called Geoff Dymock - Collins played backyard cricket when she was knee high to a grasshopper, then officially played her first game aged 10.
Her career has been inspired by Aussie greats Beth Mooney and Meg Lanning and hit her maiden century in the first grade competition in 2022.
Lucy Hamilton (Sunshine Coast) and Taylor Stumer (University of Qld)
A Shalom College schoolgirl from the Waves club in Bundaberg, Hamilton keeps passing milestone moments. Stumer is another from the beautiful Bundaberg district, the Woongarra State School past student she has been a cricketing trailblazer.
Lily Bassingthwaighte (Western Suburbs)
Holland Park Junior cricket club were quiet achievers when it comes to outstanding junior cricketers, but they have plenty, and All Hallows School student Bassingthwaighte is one of them.
Trinity Doyle (Ipswich)
A West Moreton Anglican College product, Doyle is a shooting star who made the Queensland 19s last year as well. She is a wonderful Ipswich Hornets junior.
Olivia Roche (Sandgate-Redcliffe)
Roche has played well over 150 first grade games for Sandgate and is a solid rock amongst the squad. “Rochey”, as she is known, help drives the squad culture and assists with bringing everyone together across the wide span of players ages. A Gators premiership player, she is a selfless team player and always has a positive attitude and energy around the group, both on and off the field.
Darcey Johnson (Sandgate-Redcliffe)
They have had some good ones come through the famous Gators system and Johnson is the latest in a long line of bayside high achievers.
Bonnie Berry (Sunshine Coast)
From remote outback Queensland, west of Emerald, the Anakie State School past student has been a cricketing prodigy from the moment she donned her cricketing whites. A former Jodie Fields Cricket Scholarship recipient, Berry is a rookie very much on the rise.
Holly Hogan (Valley) and Naiya Varidel (Western Suburbs) were also elite cricketers from the western suburbs, with Naiya Varidel an outstanding all-rounder - including in the field.
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