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National cricket championships for Xavier

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Xavier Wishart spent a week of his school holidays in Hobart – but he didn’t have much time to see the sights – he was there for the Under 17 National Championships of cricket.

The championships were held at several locations across Hobart from January 16 to 23 with teams playing six matches.

“The first game,” Xavier said, “we played New South Wales Country and we beat them fairly comfortably.

Then, we played South Australia and beat them in a tight one, but still fairly easy.

Then, we played Northern Territory and smashed them.

Victorian Metro, we beat them, that was a tight one that came down to the last over; and then Queensland beat us in the semi’s.

We played WA for third spot and beat them,” said Xavier.

Xavier bowled well, getting 5 wickets for 51 runs off 20 overs in the four games he played, with an economy of five wickets for an average of 10.

“It was a very good standard of cricket. All the other players, the batters especially, were better than I’ve ever seen.

“The back-to-back games were tough and we got pretty sore.”

Xavier said playing on Blundstone Arena was a highlight.

“We got to go in the changerooms and Tim Paine did a warm up with us.”

The players did a lot of team bonding at the beach and went out for team dinners, and were encouraged to have free time on their rest days, so Xavier took the opportunity to spend time with his parents who had flown to Hobart to support him.

Xavier’s journey to the championships began with initial tryouts in March and hasn’t all been smooth sailing.

Xavier was part of the Mallee Murray Suns team in the Youth Premier League (YPL) and progressed to the tryouts for the Victoria Country team with about 50 players.

Of those, 21 were picked for the squad and trained all through winter – for Xavier and his family, that meant travelling to CitiPower Centre at Junction Oval in Melbourne fortnightly for five months.

In November, 14 of those players were picked for the Tasmanian team, but Xavier missed out. Having missed a spot, Xavier signed up to play basketball but badly injured his ankle on the last night of the season.

The very next morning, Xavier received a call to say he was being added to the championship team afterall. His mother, Melanie, said it was bittersweet.

“It was bittersweet, it was shattering. It was brilliant to have been picked in the end, but shattering because he had to say he didn’t know if he’d make it because of his ankle.”

Thinking he had missed his chance, he was surprised to find that Cricket Victoria officials were supportive and guided him through physiotherapy treatment in readiness for the competition.

To Xavier’s relief, he passed the fitness test and his ankle didn’t bother him during the competition.

“It was amazing. Hopefully, I can do it again next year,” he said.

“It’s shown me what professional cricket is like, and the standards we need to be at if we want to get to top level.”

Top level is where the 16-yearold is headed, planning to try out for the Under 19 team and setting his sights on playing for Victoria down the track.

In the meantime, he continues to play locally with Nondies Cohuna and further afield with the YPL.

Xavier is grateful for the support of his family and friends which has allowed him the opportunity to play at such a level.

The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 2 February 2023

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 2 February 2023.

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