Talented Gosnells cricketer Kade Povey’s hard work has paid off, with the batting all-rounder named for WA in the Australia Under-19 National Championships.
Taking place in Adelaide, it’s the first campaign for WA since 2019-20, and it is not a squad Kade expected to be named in.
“I was a little bit surprised to be honest,” he said.
“There’s a lot of good players in the squad, it’s a really strong squad and I wasn’t sure which way the selectors would go.
“A training squad was selected in pre-season so we trained through the pre-season, but you never know with such a strong squad.”
Kade sees himself as batsman, but there’s a general consensus the 18-year-old is more of an all rounder
“I think I’m more of an all-rounder but I like to think I’m a batter, my official high-score is 103 in an Under 14s game but I hit 129 in a high school match that wasn’t really documented, so officially I can only claim the 103.
“My best bowling is 4/21.”
While Gosnells has struggled in the first few rounds of the season, Kade believes the WA team, with the likes of Teague Wylie, Corey Wasley and Willetton’s Luke Holt, can go a long way in the tournament.
“Gosnells has had a rough start from a team point of view,” he said.
“Personally I’ve had a slow start as well, but I’m starting to find my feet now, getting a little more consistent.
“This is my first championship, but speaking to some of the boys who have been before they think we’ve got a good chance to go a long way in the competition.
“I’m so excited, I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, I was always a smaller kid but I’ve grown a lot, got a bit stronger and I’d pencilled this one in, to get to the Under 19 champs and it all came together.”
WA will play three games in qualifying – NSW Country on December 15, Victoria Country on December 16 and the ACT on December 18 – before the quarter finals start on December 19.
The Cricket Australia Under-19 National Championships matches will be live streamed at https://mc-cachampionships.sportzvault.com/matches/
