Locals show style in national titles

Lachlan King.

By EWEN McRAE

TWO local boys gave Victoria’s under-17 boys’ indoor cricket side
plenty to be positive about at the recent junior national championships
in Sydney.

Despite not getting their hands on the silverware, coach Tony Pahi
believes the two young stars from Springvale, Lachlan King and Brodie
Pedder, have a big future in the sport.

“Brodie was a rookie and he performed really well when he played. He adapted quite well,” Pahi said.

“Lachlan struggled a bit early on, but once we moved him to a
differernt position in the team he started to come good. He performed
quite well at the end of the tournament.” Victoria finished third in the
nationals in Sydney, losing its semi-final by four runs in a tightly
fought tournament.

King scored 91 runs and took 12 wickets from the 11 games, and Pedder made 54 runs and took eight wickets in his six games.

King, 15, is a particularly bright prospect and also played in the
under-20 world cup in the ACT last month. Pahi thinks he has it in him
to play a part in the senior national side for the 2015 world cup.

“Lachlan played in the under-14 world cup last year, and I’ve seen
him since the start of the year. I think he’s definitely got the talent
to go further,” Pahi said.

“I’m really hopeful he can go on to bigger and brighter things.”

King played in all nine games at the under-20 world cup where
Victoria again finished third. King made 103 runs and also picked up 12
wickets, the equal second-most for the team.