Belt Up Country Cup: BDCA look for second straight win against WA Invitational squad

As the second round of the Country Cricket Board’s Belt Up Country Cup approaches, the Bunbury & Districts Cricket Association will be looking to go two for two with a couple of new faces in the squad.

The BDCA representative team will be returning to competition for round two on Sunday when they go up against the WA Invitational XI at Egan Park in Donnybrook.

It comes a month after BDCA took 39 overs to topple Peel 3-191 to 9-190 at Hay Park to kick off the Belt Up Country Cup fixtures for 2022-23.

During the round one match-up, Marist bowler Brayden Clarke picked up three wickets, Donnybrook wicket-keeper Bradman May managed two catches and stumped Peel’s Damien Burrage, and the BDCA batters showed no mercy with Michael Tassone racking up 67 runs before being caught and Cooper Dehring managing 67 not out to help BDCA on the way to victory.

Meanwhile, the WA Invitational XI squad will be looking to bounce back after their loss to Albany & Districts Cricket Association 9-258 to 6-256 in Narrogin last month.

While the likes of Kalan Joyce (75 not out) and Michael Noble were instrumental in helping the young WA Invitational squad get off to a solid start, they ultimately fell short of shutting down Albany, who managed to surpass them before the last ball of the match.

Bailey Parsons took three wickets while Thomas Forsyth managed two wickets and Calum How took two catches in the field.

While a big number of BDCA players will be set to reprise their roles in the upcoming match, it is likely there will be a few new faces within the squad in Collie’s Austin Kent and Colts’ Jordan Stynes.