A contingent of local stars will line up for the Peel Cricket Association’s country week teams, as their A and C-grade sides look to claim back-to-back titles.
The squads were released last month, with all Peel sides looming as top contenders for their respective grades.
Last year, the PCA won both A and C-grade titles, and fell just short in their B-grade grand final.
Their 2017 A-grade side is spearheaded by players like Waroona’s Jayden Derosa and Ben Wright, and Shoalwater Bay’s Grant Coles.
Halls Head’s Josh Peterson, who leads the PCA in batting average going a touch over 70 runs per game, will captain the side.
The perennial powerhouse batsman is currently playing for Western Australia at the Australian Country Cricket Championships, but said he is eager to return home and aim for a second consecutive country week flag.
“We’ve got a really strong side this year, it might even be a little stronger than last year’s flag-winning line up,” he said.
“Hopefully we give it a good shake and go back-to-back.”
Peel defeated Upper Great Southern Cricket Association in the 2016 final, and it’s likely they could be their most fierce competition again this year.
“There’s a few teams you have to be wary of that are always strong competition,” Peterson said.
“Bunbury is always tough in our division, and then Upper Great Southern in the other division are usually hard to beat.”
Peel’s B-grade side also looks to be a strong crop, featuring players like Cameron Reyne (two A-grade centuries this season) and Kane Standing (averaging 48 runs in A-grade).
C-grade is to be captained by Jimmy Reed, while D-grade will be led by Peter Ritchie.
Country Week will kick off on Sunday, January 15 with the finals to be played on Saturday, January 21.
Full sides
A-grade
- Josh Peterson (captain)
- Jayden Derosa
- Andrew Peckover
- Ben Wright
- Brad Ranford
- Bryce Evans
- Daniel Abel
- Dylan Smith
- Grant Coles
- Ian Bowes
- Mitchell Smith
- Chris Loveridge
- Matt Gordon
- Anuj Dal
B-grade
- Ben Doudle (captain)
- Cameron Reyne
- Nic Rep
- Daniel Jones
- Kane Standing
- Mitchell Cowan
- Adam Bremner
- Tim Lees
- Zac Moody
- Mitch Brown
- Scott Martin
- Brad Miles
- Lachlan Kinna
- Ben Sharp
C-grade
- Jimmy Reed (captain)
- Anthony Burt
- Grant Matthews
- Jack Downard
- Jake Wyllie
- Dylan Gray
- Josh Prosser
- Mark James
- Troy Lovegrove
- Nick Ranford
- Chris Barbara
- Craig Timbrell
- John Vickery
- Elliot Foote
D-grade
- Peter Ritchie (captain)
- Joey Teague
- Benjamin Otto
- Damien Stanley
- Joel Ritchie
- Nicholas Scholl
- Cory Wilson
- Callum Woods
- Daniel Rowe
- Matt Elwell
- Jeff Yeaple
- Ahmad Shaaf Khan
- Jarrod Waters
- Jack Searle
Teams subject to change