Western Australia's country cricket representatives are facing a challenging campaign on their home turf at the Australian Country Cricket Championships, currently being held in the picturesque Busselton-Margaret River region.
Hosts Face Uphill Battle in South West
The championships, which kicked off over the weekend, have returned to Western Australia for the first time since Geraldton hosted the event in 2017. Despite the home-ground advantage, the WA men's side found themselves at the bottom of the tournament ladder by Wednesday morning, having secured just a single victory from their opening four matches.
Their campaign began with an 82-run defeat to Victoria at Barnard Park in Busselton last Saturday. The following day brought heartbreak, as the hosts suffered a nail-biting one-wicket loss to the undefeated tournament leaders, Queensland, at Gloucester Park in Margaret River.
Monday offered a brief respite during a Twenty20 double-header. WA notched their first win, defeating South Australia by a convincing 44 runs. However, their fortunes reversed later that same day with another agonising one-wicket defeat, this time at the hands of New South Wales.
Despite the team's overall struggles, individual performances have shone brightly. WA captain Michael Tassone, a former East Fremantle and Peel Thunder WAFL defender who retired last year after 97 games, emerged as the tournament's leading run-scorer after the first four rounds. His tally of 188 runs included an unbeaten 106 in his side's sole victory. With the ball, veteran Tim Hutchison led the wicket-taking charts with nine scalps.
Following a rest day on Tuesday, the action resumed with another round of Twenty20 clashes on Wednesday. The format then shifts to one-day games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with the team finishing atop the ladder to be crowned champions.
The news was similarly tough for the WA women's team, who were also sitting at the bottom of their ladder in the concurrent women's championships being held in South Australia's Barossa Valley.
Junior Country Week Takes Over Perth
Meanwhile, the focus for the next generation has shifted to the city, where hundreds of junior cricketers from across the state have assembled in Perth for junior country week.
A total of 44 teams are competing across five divisions in under-14 and under-16 age groups. The tournament began with Twenty20 matches on Monday and will build towards finals this Friday.
After Tuesday's games, Wellington, representing clubs from the South West north of Bunbury, sat undefeated atop the under-16 A-division ladder. In the under-14 A-grade, Albany also remained unbeaten to lead their table.
This year's event marks a significant milestone, incorporating girls' cricket for the very first time. Sides from Bunbury and Geraldton competed in a newly established tournament that also included Perth-based teams on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The senior country week carnivals are scheduled for later this month. The men's event will run from January 18 to 23, followed by the women's tournament from January 24 to 26.
WAFL Star Steps Up to Coach GFL Premiers
In other regional sports news, former Perth Demon and WAFL forward Samuel Stubbs has been appointed senior coach of the reigning Goldfields Football League premiers, Mines Rovers, for the upcoming season.
The club announced the move this week, stating they were "extremely lucky" to secure someone of Stubbs' calibre. He steps into the role following the departure of Marc Johnstone, who coached the Diorites to their 2025 premiership.
Stubbs joined Mines Rovers last year after a 66-game WAFL career with Perth, where he kicked 81 goals and won the club's goal-kicking award in 2022 and 2023. He made an immediate impact in the Goldfields, finishing as the Diorites' leading goal-kicker in the 2025 season with 52 majors, a tally only surpassed by Dick Robinson Medal winner Dustin Walters of Boulder.
