Home Hill Cricket Junior Cricket

This week our Home Hill junior cricketers, big and small, returned to the fields for the start of the 2024/25 cricket season.

Junior cricket sessions are available for children ages 5 and up.  The “Rookies” (5-7 yr olds) play Tuesday afternoons from 3:30pm at East Ayr State School.  Friday afternoons see the “Challengers” (8-10yr olds) and Juniors (U11’s +) play at the Home Hill Cricket fields from 4pm.  All boys and girls are welcome to join in the fun, even if you’re new to cricket.

Last week saw the start of the 24/25 Home Hill Cricket Association's Junior Cricket season.  Rookies were at East Ayr State School on Tuesday afternoon from 3.30pm. The sessions are for 5 to 7 year olds and aim to teach the children the basics of cricket in a fun way with soft balls.  Challengers are the next level up for 7 to 10 year olds and their sessions are at the Nutrien Ag Solutions Cricket Complex in Home Hill on Fridays at 5pm.  These are still played with soft balls but the activities are more game based.   
They have two groups of "hardball" cricket on Fridays at Home Hill as well, starting at 4pm.  In the "Blue Group" Alex Cullen and Kyle Wilkie scored some good runs and were both not out at the end of their batting.  Tait Parker took the best figures of 2/3, Kip Nicholas and Tyler Smith also bowled well with 1/1 and 1/2 respectively.  This group is for the players who have just moved up from Challengers and has modified rules to make it more enjoyable for them.
The "Gold Group" is the other game and this is played with essentially normal cricket rules as their skill levels are generally higher.  Marshall Parker starred with the bat this week with 46 not out off 30 balls which included 6 fours.  Ben Watkins had fun with the ball taking 3 wickets for 10 runs, Jacques Gardner took 2 and Aanav Desai and Oscar Mahoney 1 each.
It is not too late to register for the 24/25 Junior Cricket season, just go to www.playhq.com and search for Home Hill Cricket Association to join in the fun.
Senior Cricket
It was a family affair as 4 teams took the field for the start of the 2024/25 Senior cricket season at Home Hill Cricket on Saturday.  The Rookies, Alliance Pharmacy and Crowned Mongrels all had fathers and sons playing together.

A tight contest ensued on Barry Richards field as the Rookies took on Crowned Mongrels. The top score of the match by the Rookies Dan Olditch (45 runs from 48 balls) wasn’t enough to secure the win as the Mongrels took the glory in the final over. Crowned Mongrels finished the match 6/137 over the Rookies 6/131.

On field 2, Alliance Pharmacy made a competitive total of 5/130, anchored by opener Lee Watts who retired not out on 50 runs from 58 balls. Peto’s Marine worked hard in reply and helped by an unbeaten 50 not out off 36 balls by Andy Ballin, took the win with a total of 6/151.

Next Saturday will see the two Round 1 winners, Peto’s Marine and Crowned Mongrels, face off on  Barry Richards field from 1pm. Alliance Pharmacy will take on the Rookies on field 2.

To register and join a team, visit www.PlayHQ.com and search “Home Hill”.

‍

Crowned Mongrels father and son - Aiden and Joe Marano. Photo Supplied
Three generations playing for the Rookies - Leo, Chris and Dan Olditch. Photo Supplied
Alliance Pharmacy family - JD, Alf and Travis Wilkins. Photo supplied
A great day on the field. Photo supplied

‍