Halls Head cricket product Damien Burrage has been in flying form at the Cricket Australia Under 19s Championships this week.
Captaining the WA side the Rockingham-Mandurah batting all-rounder has notched a pair of half centuries and snared nine wickets with one game to go (set to be played on Thursday) at the carnival.
While Western Australia has struggled with just one win in the regular games and another in the semi finals on Wednesday, Burrage has been able to make an impact.
His finest knock so far came against the Northern Territory last Sunday, where he went for 73 runs off just 64 deliveries in a narrow loss.
That followed on from his first half-century, a fine 54 (off just 28 deliveries) in WA’s first win of the carnival against Victoria Country, in which he also claimed 3/32 with the ball.
Impressively, Burrage’s lower scores have also been valuable to the side with his strike rate constantly hovering around 100.
His 36 off 44 was a solid contribution in a loss to Tasmania, which he followed up with 28 off 29 against ACT/NSW Country.
The captain took just 20 balls to score 17 against NSW Metro and his knock of 39 in the semi final against the Cricket Australia XI came from 33 deliveries.
Fellow Rockingham-Mandurah product Eric Botha has also been in good touch for WA, taking 10 wickets including a five and three-wicket haul early on.
His figures of 5/48 (which included a hat trick) remain WA’s best contribution to the carnival with one match to go.
Together, the pair have arguably been WA’s best players at the campaign.
Western Australia will wrap up their carnival with a clash against Victoria Metro on Thursday.