Mulgrave junior Weatherstone snares rare cricket feat
Plenty of bowlers go through their entire careers without ever taking a hat-trick. But Mulgrave Combined Cricket Club youngster Brecon Weatherstone won’t be one of them.
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Plenty of bowlers go through their entire careers without ever taking a hat-trick.
But Mulgrave Combined Cricket Club youngster Brecon Weatherstone won’t be one of them.
The 16-year-old has started the season in splendid form, taking seven wickets in the first three games at an average of 9.14 and an economy rate of 3.56.
But it will be Saturday’s round four clash against Norths United that he will never forget.
Weatherstone achieved one of cricket’s finest bowling achievements when he snared three wickets in as many balls towards the end of the first innings.
The teenage paceman dismissed Gareth Thomas and Sam Musgrove with the final balls of his fifth over, before completing his first hat-trick with the wicket of Benjamin Harrison on the first ball of his final over.
“I was pretty pumped,” he said.
“It was a bit exciting and the team got around me, which was good.”
Weatherstone said his recent form could be put down to the work he did in the off-season.
“I did a few net sessions with a few mates and worked on a few different things,” he said.
“I injured my shoulder last season so it was just trying to build that back up and I had to change the way that I bowled a little bit.
“I’m just trying to bowl quick and accurate, which is working at the moment.”
The former Innisfail and West Pilbara junior is in his second season with Mulgrave, after he moved to Cairns two years ago, and has earned Cricket Far North and Peninsula School Sport representative honours in recent years.
Barry Bennett, who co-coaches the side with David McGregor, said Weatherstone’s form was a reward for his effort and perseverance.
“He’s a big, tall, fast bowler – he’d be six-foot-three (190cm) or something like that and he’s a fairly strongly built young fella,” he said.
“He’d be the quickest of the bowlers in that under-17s competition and he moves the ball around – he’s still learning to control it but he does move the ball a fair bit.
“He was pretty unlucky last year as he didn’t get all that many wickets for us but he always looked dangerous – sometimes that’s the way it goes, things just don’t go your way – but he’s started with a bit of form this season, which is a good reward for him.”
Unfortunately for Mulgrave, Weatherstone’s blistering spell was not enough to claim victory as they were bowled out for 83, well short of Norths United’s total of 7-177.
It is the second year in a row that a player from Mulgrave’s Jimmy Maher Cup Gold side has taken a hat-trick, after teenage legspinner Aidan Beach claimed the same feat almost a year ago to the date.
Beach’s hat-trick came on October 30, 2020, while Weatherstone was on October 31, 2021.
Beach made his first-grade debut for Mulgrave two weeks later and went on to play for the Piccones Badgers in the inaugural Barrier Reef Big Bash, where he took best figures of 3-11.
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Originally published as Mulgrave junior Weatherstone snares rare cricket feat
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