New South Wales fights back from early losses to claim under-16 title

New South Wales Metro has secured the under-16 girls national cricket title but they were made to fight for it the whole way after an injury to a star batter in the final. See how the tournament unfolded.

Shiloh Julien has been impressive for NSW Metro on day one and day two of the tournament. Picture: Cricket NSW.

The Under-16 National Cricket Championships have been run and won in Ballarat with New South Wales Metro claiming the crown.

NSW Metro came from the clouds in the final couple of days to not only qualify but beat Queensland to the title.

Here is a wrap of the event.

Day Six

Not even an injury to star batter, Shiloh Julien, could stop New South Wales Metro from storming to the title at the under-16 national cricket championships.

NSW Metro reversed the result from earlier in the tournament, when Queensland won by 17 runs in a T20 match, to beat the Maroons and claim the title.

After bowling Queensland out for 190 at Eastern Oval, NSW Metro reached its target with less than 10 overs to spare and seven wickets in hand.

The NSW Metro team, with Shiloh Julien sitting on the bench, after the side won the under-16 female cricket championships in Ballarat. Picture: Shane Jones.

Julien was the star, racing to 74 and well on track to make 100, before taking a fall and injuring her knee, forcing her to retire.

“No doubt we’ll work with the medical team and she’ll be okay and back on her feet soon,” NSW Metro coach Hannah Trethewy said.

“She was devastated that she couldn’t bat, she wanted to help the team get over the line.

“But she’s had an absolutely incredible tournament and she’s performed well with bat and ball.”

Julien was joined by Neha Joshua who made 66 and hit the winning runs.

The result completed a remarkable turnaround for the team.

After losing the first game of the tournament the team was looking likely to miss the final after losing to Queensland during the T20 matches.

If Sunday’s game was a washout against Victoria Country the team would have also missed out.

Trethewy said the team never lost faith.

“It was an interesting tournament,” she said.

“What I was most proud of was the learning opportunities the girls had in those matches we did lose.

“We were able to work as a unit and talk about the things we can improve and they did all of that in the grand final when it matters the most.

“It was an awesome fight yesterday to get here and to put on the display today, I’m proud of the girls and they deserved the victory.”

In the other results on the day, Victoria Metro secured third, beating Victoria Country, with Western Australia beating New South Wales Country to secure fifth.

Day Five

New South Wales Metro secured a finals spot by finishing and winning the only game after rain forced the rest of the games to be abandoned.

Needing a win over Victoria Country, who only needed a win or a draw themselves to qualify, NSW Metro did that, winning on Duckworth Lewis.

NSW Metro, batting first, made 3/229 from 42.4 overs with openers Shiloh Julien (70) and Aanya Siingh (73) dominating.

In reply, Victoria Country fell to 8/110 after 20 overs before play was stopped.

The result put NSW Metro into the final to face Queensland on Monday.

Day Four

Queensland secured a spot in the final, beating New South Wales Metro and Northern Territory on a big day for the Maroons.

The Maroons defeated NSW Metro in the first game by 17 runs after making 107 and restricting the opposition to 90.

Queensland then smashed the NT in the second game by 138 runs.

After making 170 from their overs, NT crumbled to be all out for 32 with Peyton Meredith getting 5/5.

The Maroons weren’t the only team to win two games on the day with Victoria Metro, Victoria Country and Western Australia all winning out.

New South Wales Country and New South Wales Metro each won one game with South Australia being eliminated from the tournament with two losses on the day.

Day Three

There’s a seven way battle for two spots in the final, heading into the last two days of the tournament before grand final day.

And Victoria Metro is one of them after bouncing back in style on the first of the T20 days.

The reigning champions won both games, beating state rivals Victoria Country by 22 runs before ending the day with a seven-wicket win over Western Australia.

A destructive 73 from Eva Baird, which included six sixes helped Victoria Metro to make 157 from their 20 overs.

Victoria Country could only make 135 in reply with Vic Metro’s Georgia Naughton taking 3/10 from four overs.

Victoria Meto then defeated WA by six wickets, chasing Western Australia’s 97 with nine balls to spare.

Victoria Country would bounce back from their loss earlier in the day to beat Northern Territory by 92 runs in their other match.

The regional side made 187 from their 20 overs with Indigo Noble making 55.

Sarah Burton took 3/11 to restrict Northern Territory to 8/95.

It was a good day for Queensland, New South Wales Metro and New South Wales Country who all won their matches during the day.

Queensland restricted the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia to 61 and 63 respectively before chasing both totals with nine wickets in hand.

Peyton Meredith took 3/6 against the ACT before Ayaka Stafford took 5/8 against the Croweaters to give Queensland the perfect day.

New South Wales Country smashed the ACT, winning by 131 runs.

NSW Country made 180 with Molly Dare making 80 before bowling out ACT for 49 in reply.

The regional side then defeated Tasmania by 52 runs in the other match.

Amelia Valdez made 62 for NSW Country in the win.

Other matches saw NSW Metro defeat Tasmania by five wickets and South Australia by eight wickets.

The other match saw WA beat Tasmania by 87 runs with Emily Jacobs making 83 for the Sandgropers.

Day Two

Victoria Metro will need to win almost all of its remaining matches to qualify for the final after losing to NSW Metro by 128 runs.

Playing their first game of the tournament, after having a washout in the first game, Vic Metro was bowled out for 110 in reply to NSW Metro’s 7/238 from it’s 50 overs.

After making 56 on the opening day, NSW Metro opener Shiloh Julien continued her good form, making 50, with Aditi Shidore (70) and Aurora Mavros (69) also contributing.

Julien and Aanya Siingh then took two wickets each to help the team to win.

Victoria Metro is now one and a half games behind the top two, which is where the team needs to be to make the final after the round robin matches, so wins are needed on the final few days to stay alive.

ACT is celebrating their first win in more than a year after beating the Northern Territory by three wickets in Maryborough.

A vital 35-run stand for the eighth wicket between Dhruti Patel (20*) and Saranya Chanduri (8*) guided the team to the win.

The game of the day was Queensland beating NSW Country by one wicket at Buninyong.

Queensland chased down the 199 made by NSW Country to win with seven balls to spare.

The game looked over for the Maroons when the team lost its ninth wicket, still requiring 15 runs to win.

But Ayaka Stafford (29*) and Jessica Cremin (8*) helped the team to win with a vital last wicket stand.

Astrid Muniandy set up the win with a valuable 70 for the Maroons through the first part of the innings.

In other results, South Australia defeated Tasmania by seven wickets to move to the top of the standings with two wins in the tournament.

Victoria Country joined them with two wins after beating Western Australia by five wickets, chasing WA’s total of 166 with more than 10 overs to spare.

Wednesday will see the teams have a day off before play resumes on Thursday.

Day One

Western Australia and NSW Metro played out the game of the day to start the tournament with the rain shortened game going down to the final ball.

Needing three runs, the NSW side could only manage a sing off the bowling of Liv Tedeschi as WA held on for a one-run win.

WA had posted 6-147 from its 19 overs as Alyssa Dermody top scored with an unbeaten 63 off 55 with Kaya Punter and Shiloh Julien taking two wickets apiece.

Despite valiant opening efforts from Julien (56 off 50) and Aanya Singh (65 not out off 56), Metro was unable to get across the line.

Tasmania claimed a six-wicket win over the Northern Territory in the final over chasing down their opponent’s 4-122 in the 21-over game.

Trisha Bajaj top scored for the NT with 56 off 56 before Tassie skipper Mia Barwick pushed her side across the line with an unbeaten 38.

Vic Country held on by eight rounds against Queensland in a game which was reduced to 29 overs a side.

Indigo Noble led the way with the bat, scoring 41 not out, as the tournament hosts posted 4-151.

Queensland reached 9-143 in response with Madhumika Dinesh’s unbeaten 32 the best score.

South Australia recorded a comfortable win, prevailing by 41 runs against the ACT.

Ivy Hobbs posted a half-century in the win.

The game between Vic Metro and NSW Country was abandoned.