Horsham's Under 13 cricketers had a week to remember in Portland, finishing an impressive second overall after a tight loss to Warrnambool Blue in the grand final on Wednesday.
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The side qualified for the decider after wins against Hamilton Green, Portland, Hamilton Gold and Warrnambool Gold during the week. Their only other loss came against eventual champions Warrnambool Blue in round two.
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In the grand final, Warrnambool Blue was sent in to bat first by Horsham and compiled an imposing 10/125 off their 25 overs.
Phoenix Hopper was the most damaging of the Horsham bowlers, finishing with figures of 2-8 off three overs, while Rhys Wallace top-scored for Warrnambool on 26.
In reply, Horsham was in early trouble at 5-27, before Harrison Hoffmann, 20 retired not out, Riley Downer, 21 retired not out made valuable runs.
Ultimately run rate became a factor as Horsham finished a respectable 6-95 off their 25 overs, 30 runs short of the target set by Warrnambool.
Mitchell McCosh was the best of the Warrnambool bowlers, claiming 2-5.
Horsham coach Josh Miller was extremely pleased with his side's performance at the carnival.
"They did well, really well," Miller told The Wimmera Mail-Times on Thursday.
"The Wimmera's a massive area, so they came up against teams where the kids play week in week out with each other, and these guys play against each other once a month.
"They are a tight-knit bunch of guys and by the Wednesday afternoon they were playing really, really good cricket."
Miller said his side would take a lot from the experience.
"They go from playing 40 overs on a Friday night once a week to playing 300 overs in three days," he said.
"It takes it out of them. It's good.
"The ones that love it they'll be back."
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Despite it being an entire team effort, a selection of Horsham players shone among Western Victoria's best and finished top-ten in the competition's wicket-taking and run-scoring leaderboards.
Harrison Hoffmann (108 runs), Luke Miller (96 runs), and Hugh Weidemann (80 runs) finished third, fourth and 6th in the competition's batting charts.
At the same time, Declan Paech (seven wickets) and Hopper Phoenix (six wickets) placed fourth and fifth in the overall wicket-taking charts.
Miller also finished first in the competition fielding rankings, with six catches and a stumping.
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