CRICKET: At 40 years of age and after almost three decades of playing cricket, Hay Park Redback Jayson Sandiford was surprised to receive his first selection in the WA Indigenous XI which will play at the Country Week Championships over the next two weekends.
Followed by a strong season of cricket for the Redbacks, Sandiford was awarded selection in the side along with teammate Max Webster.
Webster, 17, also received selection after a strong year and will be the youngest member of the team.
Sandiford has played cricket since he was 12 years old and said his selection to the XI came as a surprise.
“After nearly 30 years of playing cricket, I didn’t expect to be selected to the side,” he said.
There are quite a few young cricketers in the side so it was a proud moment to be selected among them.”
Sandiford said he will probably be put through a rotation that will see younger players carrying the bulk of the workload at the tournament.
“The younger guys will more than likely see more time on the field than myself,” he said.
As a younger player, Webster will look to put up solid performances in front of experienced cricketers at the tournament.
Webster was named NAIDOC sports person of the year in 2014 and plays as an all rounder for Hay Park.
“I was really stoked when I found out about it,” Webster said.
“Being one of the youngest made it pretty exciting.”
The pair will play in 70 over matches at the tournament and will come up against teams from all over the state.
Hay Park will also field players for the Bunbury and Districts Cricket Association side at the tournament.
Ben Saunders, Jono Whitney and Ross Knoll will all play for the BDCA XI.
