By RUSSELL BENNETT
IT’S been a hell of a start to the cricket season for Kooweerup young gun Mitch Davey.
Having just played in his first ever West Gippsland Cricket Association (WGCA) Premier grade game – alongside his dad, Demons champion Matt, no less – Mitch has just been named with great mate Jason Cox in the Vic Country side to face off against the best young talent across the country in the School Sport Australia (SSA) 15 years and under cricket championships in Brisbane.
Mitch and Jason are just two of a new and exciting breed of youngsters at Denhams Road, one that has enhanced Kooweerup’s already impressive reputation for producing gun players.
The tall, left-arm pace duo from Kooweerup Secondary College impressed in the Vic Country trial games – with Cox back bowling for just the second time after returning from a stress reaction in his left leg.
The Vic Country honour is the highest level either of the two boys have received so far in their young careers, and they can’t wait to ply their trades on Queensland turf from 20 to 28 February next year.
They’ll get their team caps presented on day three of next month’s Boxing Day Test.
Both boys relish the opportunity to learn from the likes of the Bright brothers, Chris O’Hara, Michael Giles, and Mitch’s dad Matt at Kooweerup, and Jason and Mitch have already identified another trio of youngsters to keep an eye on – Bailey Perry, Kalin Parker and the super-impressive Mitch Cammarano.
Both Mitch and Jason played for the Casey-South Melbourne fourths in a Twenty20 on Sunday. Jason took 2/21, with Mitch finishing with 0/12 off his four overs.
Another prodigiously-talented local youngster, Caleb Serong from St Paul’s Anglican Grammar in Warragul, is also in the Vic Country side headed to Queensland in February. When the Gazette last caught up with him earlier this year, he’d captained the Under 14 Warragul side in the Region 7 (Gippsland) junior country cricket carnival in Traralgon, and led from the front – he was the competition’s leading run-scorer with 222 and nearly topped the wicket tally as well with 10 scalps. He last year belted the winning runs for Victoria against New South Wales in the SSA national championships in Bendigo.
