David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are some members of parliament who don't mind cricket and there are others, like me, who love it. I'm honoured to be the patron of the Tuggeranong Valley Cricket Club, the club that's had a Bevan, a Behrendorff, an Osborne and many a Floros in its ranks. It's been a role that's allowed me to get close to the game and the people that make up the club. The Tuggeranong and Weston Creek clubs in Bean have a storied history and a strong future. They are part of the broader ACT cricket community, a community that has just celebrated 100 years, is well led, is growing, has great diversity and has an ever-increasing talent pool.

Last December, I was privileged to host our talented Cricket ACT's under-19, under-17 and under-16 male and female teams, as well as their parents, up here at Parliament House. The teams were about to head off for representative duty, and along with Cricket ACT chair, Greg Boorer, I presented the players with their blue ACT caps.

Our under-17 male team went to Tasmania for the national championships, with two ACT players named in the team of the tournament. Raakin Rahman and Jake Smith had some stand-out performances over the week in both batting and bowling. Both were most effective with the bat, finishing second and third respectively in the batting averages for the championship. The ACT young males managed two wins during the week, defeating Western Australia in round 3 and the Northern Territory in the final game of the tournament. A number of games were extremely close and the team were unlucky not to walk away winners.

The under-19 mens male team played five one-day matches and managed to win against Tasmania. The player with the best bowling average was Blake Faunce, who made it into the top 10 bowling averages at nine. He took nine wickets throughout the tournament with a best performance of five for 33.

The under-19 womens team played eight games across the tournament in Perth with a combination of T20s and one day matches. They couldn't quite get a win during the tournament but, from what I've been told, the young team played hard and never gave up. Many of the young women were playing up a couple of age groups. Well done to Grace Lyons who racked up 121 runs across the tournament.

The ACT's Alana Horsfall was named in the team of the tournament following the under-16 female national championships. The ACT managed one win against some tough competition. There were impressive performances by many players during the event, particularly by Alana, Rachel Carroll and the captain, Amber Smith.

I give a huge thank you to all the players, parents, coaching staff, managers, umpires, scorers and supporters who helped all the teams across the championships. Last but not least, I thank the Cricket ACT staff and board, who not only worked tirelessly to ensure the cricket could together but also have a clear vision for the future of cricket in our region.