Souths prepared to tackle reserve and B-grade grand finals in Toowoomba cricket

THE young and old of Toowoomba cricket are combining to lift Southern Districts to new heights.

Callum Barnett. Photo: Nev Madsen

CRICKET: Southern Districts has built its reputation on developing youth through its ranks over the last few seasons.

Now they are starting to witness this mentality pay off, with a pair of sides engaged in this weekend’s 1-day grand finals.

Strong seasons have seen the Magpies qualify for the reserve and B-grade deciders on Saturday at Captain Cook Reserve.

President Glenn Jones said it is a continuation of the development through the grades, and a result of the young and experienced players combining to aplomb.

“We’re really stoked about it. We’ve got a good mix of some young and old fellas,” Jones said.
“We’ve been building back up as a club. We lost our A-grade side a few years ago and we’ve been looking to build back up to be competitive again.

“It was always going to be a three-four year plan and everything is coming along as we planned.

“Next year we will have enough players coming through to bolster our A-grade. We’re developing our ranks from below and mentoring our juniors for that level.”

Across the senior squads, there are a number of father-son and even a father-daughter duo, and Jones said the culture at the club is a strong point.

“It’s our club culture at the moment. We’re focused on becoming a team and not an individual grade,” he said.

“If anyone needs to step up from B-grade to reserves, they’ll do it. The words from the guys are wherever we put them, they’ll be there, they just want to play for Souths.

“We’re getting 40 or so blokes turn up to training every week which is great.”

As for their hopes this weekend, Jones is quietly confident of a strong showing from both sides, with the reserves boosted by the return of Callum Barnett, the 16-year-old quick who took six wickets in Souths’ A-grade defeat of Metropolitan-Easts last weekend.

“There’s big confidence in the sides. We’re just going to go out there, give our all and see how we go,” he said.

“It will be a big day for the club to have two grades playing. They’ll put in 100 per cent and whatever happens on the day happens.”

Originally published as Souths prepared to tackle reserve and B-grade grand finals in Toowoomba cricket