Western Australia under 19s skipper Simon Budge ready to ‘stamp mark on cricket in Australia’ in Adelaide

Western Australia under 19s skipper Simon Budge wants to extend the State’s cricket dominance to the youth level in Adelaide this week. Fresh from a tour of India with the national 19s side, Budge has been named captain of the 14-man squad to take on the country’s best young players for the second time in two years, having led WA at the under 17s championships last summer. And the young wicketkeeper says he rates his side’s chances and hopes to replicate WA’s phenomenal success at the professional level across the last five seasons. “As a group, (this tournament) means something to everyone,” he told The West Australian. “For some of the boys, this is their first champs, and their entire careers up to this point were to get here and to do well here. “To be able to continue what WA Cricket has done in the past few years and spread that success into underage tournaments sets us up really well to stamp our mark on cricket in Australia. If we can do that, it’ll be really big for us. “We’re shaping up really well as a group; bowling and batting is looking really promising; knowing our plans, knowing our structure, I think we can go all the way, to be honest. And to be able to captain your State in any sport is an absolute honour, and to do it twice in two years is amazing.” Budge played a starring role for WA during his under-17s campaign, scoring 341 runs at 56.83 to finish as his side’s leading run-scorer batting at the top. His efforts included a pair of centuries against Queensland (110) and South Australia (116). It saw the 17-year-old feature in two red-ball matches and two 50-over fixtures during his trip to India. However, Budge said while his performances brought him confidence, he would treat this tournament, starting on Thursday, as a fresh start. “To be honest, it’s a nice feeling and brought a lot of confidence to the back end of last season, but to be honest, I’m not really thinking about last champs; I’m more thinking about what I can do to prepare for these champs,” he said. “I’m playing 19s now, and it’s a little bit different; standards are a little bit better, and the ball comes down a little faster, so I’m thinking about what I did well last champs, but I’m not dwelling on it. “(Being with the state squad) is a familiar territory where I can just be around the boys and play some good cricket. It’s a place I know a lot more and played a lot more cricket with these boys. It’s just a really nice feeling, to be honest.” The squad also features talented Rockingham-Mandurah quick Albert Esterhuysen and underagers Zed Hollick and Will Malajczuk.