Victoria Metro through to National Championships semi-finals

Queensland has played host to the championship which features metropolitan and country teams from across Australia, as well as a breadth of exciting young talent rising the cricket ranks.

After a week of mostly stunning Queensland weather, the race for the championship has come down to four who will face off tomorrow.

Both the Victorian and NSW Metropolitan teams will play for a spot in the Final where they will be met by either Queensland or the Cricket Australia XI.

Finishing second in Pool B with a win-loss record of 3-2, Vic Metro have produced plenty of highlights both individually and as a team.

With a strong batting and bowling lineup, oppositions have had trouble not only taking wickets, but holding their own against the Metro Vics.

In their five games so far, Vic Metro has lost only 27 wickets, the lowest of all sides in the National Championship.

At the same time, they have taken the second most wickets in the competition with 41, behind only South Australia with 45.

Individually, Jonathan Merlo has produced some fine all-round displays of cricket, fashioning an unbeaten 114* (105) against Tasmania, as well clinical bowling figures of 4-27 against the Northern Territory.

Likewise, Blake Parsons played a blinder against Western Australia taking 4-14 off 6.4 overs alongside Tate Volitakis’ 3-14, limiting the opposition to just 84 runs.

The upcoming semi-final match against defending champions NSW Metropolitan will be their biggest test yet, and is sure to produce some more tournament highlights.

On the other side of the equation, the Victoria Country side started off with a victory against ACT/NSW Country, however, weren’t able to join the winners list again, finishing the tournament at the bottom of Pool A with a win-loss record of 1-4 and missing a finals birth.

Highlights include consecutive half-centuries from Thomas Ewing against Tasmania and the top side NSW Metropolitan to finish the competition in form, as well as a team high individual score of 82 (112) from Jordan Rossi.

With warm weather forecast in Brisbane tomorrow, the heat will be on in the race to secure a spot in the U17 National Championship final for 2015 on Thursday, October 8.

You can keep up with live scores of Vic Metro’s game against NSW Metro tomorrow at www.nationalchamps.com.au