Premier Cricket: Twelve Victorian players in Under 19 World Cup squad
Young talent is bursting through at Melbourne, which has six players in the Australian squad for the Under 19 World Cup.
Inner South
Don't miss out on the headlines from Inner South. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Twelve Victorian players are in contention to represent Australia at the Under 19 cricket World Cup.
The Vics feature in a 36-player squad assembled by Cricket Australia.
In a development Melbourne coach Ben Vague calls “bloody exciting’’, the Demons have six players – Kobe Herft, Darcy Munro, Marcus Jackman, Campbell Kellaway, Xander Buxton and Harkirat Bajwa – in the squad for the tournament in the West Indies.
The World Cup had been in some doubt but it’s now going ahead and will be held early next year.
The West Indies will be hosting it for the first time.
Cricket Australia head of national development Graham Manou is preparing the squad, which will be finalised in December.
Geelong has three players in it: Liam Blackford, Josh Garner and Vincent Huf.
Seamus Keogh (Northcote), Reiley Mark (Richmond) and Thomas Nelson (Camberwell Magpies) also feature.
Buxton is still eligible for Under 17 representative cricket. He made a lot of runs for the Melbourne Second XI last season, hitting 71 in the grand final against Footscray.
He also had a good time of it in the Premier Cricket Under 16 series, cracking 130 against Casey South Melbourne.
In club, representative and school cricket the right-hander finished 2020-21 with 1262 runs at an average of 40.71.
Kellaway is a left-hand batsman who bowls medium pace and spin.
Given a debut in the First XI last season he made 57 in his second match, against Casey South Melbourne.
Jackman, a bowling all-rounder, was 16 when the Demons introduced him to the top team in 2019-20 and he made an impression with his pace.
Herft quickly gained attention when he joined Melbourne last season, hitting 25 off 27 balls on debut against Carlton to help his club lift the inaugural Dean Jones Cup.
He had been promoted after scores of 57, 141, 20 and 91 in the Second XI.
Herft played junior cricket in Queensland and Grade cricket in NSW before joining Melbourne at the start of the season.
“If he’s not the most talented kid at our club, he’s close to it,’’ Vague said the day after Herft’s debut.
“He walked in off the street and asked if he could train. And he blew us away the first time we set eyes on him.
“He’s a remarkable talent, full of class. He’s got so much time. He reminds me a young Will Pucovski, so much time at the crease and he has every shot. He’s only a small bloke but he times the ball so well, very delicate with his hands. His technique is faultless.’’
Munro is also a bowling all-rounder – he swings the ball and hits it cleanly – and is yet to play in the First XI.
However, Vague said he was “right in the mix’’ to play in Round 1 of the new season.
Bajwa bowls off-spin and has developed a “doosra’’ among other “mystery’’ balls.
Mark, who is completing his Year 12 exams at Haileybury College, made his First XI debut for the Tigers at the age of 16.
‘Chaos’: Cricketer claims five wickets in five balls
A Victorian local cricketer has written himself into history books with an insane spell of bowling, claiming a rare triple hat-trick with five wickets in five consecutive balls. Watch each wicket fall here.
Ranked: The top 70 local footy clubs of 2024
After a stunning year of local footy we’ve ranked our top 70 clubs as the best in Melbourne. Did we get it right? See who we say is number one and lodge your own vote.