BDCA: A look back at the season, with Colts and Leschenault setting the pace in men’s and women’s first-grade

The start of the 2024-25 summer of Bunbury and Districts Cricket Association men’s first-grade cricket made a similar beginning to last season, with Colts and Dalyellup dominating from the outset. Last year’s two grand finalists had moved an astonishing five wins clear of the rest of the competition after only nine games, with their strong starts meaning they would need to experience epic collapses in the back half of the year to not play off in the qualifying final. Dalyellup keeper-batter Bradman May has been by far the competition’s best batter, scoring nearly double the runs of his nearest challenger with 643 at an average of 80.4. In a sign of the strength of last year’s beaten grand finalists’ bowling attack, BDCA captain and Country XI representative Liam Renton is only their fifth-leading wicket-taker, with Zane Verhaaf and Brandon O’Rourke completing a potent seam attack alongside spinners Jaiah Moore and Izaak Bedford. Colts slow bowlers Cruise Ciallella and Tim Hutchison have been dominating several years but a dynamic duo has become a trio this year with the emergence of Morgan Baxter as one of the competition’s leading players, with the leg-spinner leading all comers with 26 wickets at an average of 12.4. Cobbling together winning scores with the bat has been a team effort from the reigning premiers, with Christian Pitcher their only player in the competition’s top 15 run-scorers heading into the final round before the break. Third-placed Hay Park will welcome some more T20 cricket in the back half of the season, having won the short format competition last season when it was separate from the regular season. Star batter Michael Tassone showed some good form before the break for the new year and shapes as the key figure in the Redbacks’ hopes of challenging the top two. Fourth-placed Marist are well-positioned to hang on to the last finals spot, having a game in hand on the two teams below them with a fixture against Collie to be played at some stage in the new year. The consistent run-scoring of Haydn Slodecki and dynamism of Cooper Clarke-Dehring has the Blues capable of making winning scores with the bat and they boast both a depth of contributors and plenty of experience with the ball. Fifth-placed Leschenault have shown they can match the competition’s top sides at times but will be looking for improved performances in the back half of the year, with the Green Caps having been competitive in nearly all of their games while not quite putting complete performances together. Sixth-placed Collie have endured another difficult campaign, winning only one game. * The women’s first-grade competition has been much tighter across the course of the season while still having an early pacesetter, with Leschenault winning eight of their nine games to sit atop the table. Hollie Perkin, who will head to South Australia’s Barossa Valley with the Country XI in January, has been in imperious form with the bat for the Green Caps, hitting back-to-back hundreds in rounds seven and eight and standing alone at the peak of the competition’s run-scoring charts with 344 at a remarkable average of 114.67. Young gun Ella Harrison has also started the season in fine fashion for Leschenault, having both made the third-most runs (143) and taken the third-most wickets (12). Last year’s beaten grand finalists Colts are sitting in second, with their five wins coming largely on the strength of their bowling. All-rounder Addison Hall has been a breakout star, with the young gun having made second-most runs in the competition with 193 while also taking eight wickets. Reigning premiers Donnybrook have won only three games but have also had some performances showing their threat, including one where they handed Leschenault their only loss of the season by 81 runs in round six. Fourth-placed Marist have won two games for the season but closed out the calendar year by bowling Colts out for just 19 to secure a remarkable 138-run victory. The Blues also boast the competition’s two leading wicket-takers in Kayleigh Lynch (15 at an average of 10.5) and Newton (13 at 12.9). The majority of the women’s season has been completed, with only three rounds of T20s left before the finals start. A three-week format will see the competition’s minor premier host the second-placed side in a qualifying final which will have hosting rights for the grand final on the line, with the loser of that game to play the winner of a third-against-fourth elimination final in the preliminary final. The men’s finals, which start in March, will be played under the same system.