Bush and ‘Burbs: Busselton-Margaret River win senior country week for second time in region’s history

The West Australian’s sports reporters take a look at what’s happening in the country and amateur leagues around WA in this weekly column. Busselton-Margaret River claimed the Boan Cup for just the second time in their history with a 42-run victory over Albany in the Senior Country Week grand final at the WACA Ground on Friday. The winners were able to cap off an unbeaten carnival by defending their first-innings score of 206, bowling out the Whalers for 164 to condemn them to defeat in the decider for the second year running. BMR wicketkeeper-batter Ajith Rajapaksha claimed the John Rutherford Medal as the player of the final for a crucial 70 and three catches behind the stumps, while the a 223-run, seven-wicket week won the side’s captain Fraser Oates the Barry Shepherd Medal as the carnival’s best player. Oates was ecstatic with the result, especially after years of pain for the association. “We’ve had a long bumpy road here, but makes it all the sweeter now we’ve done it,” he told the South Western Times post-match. BMR’s head coach Neil Langenhoven said the journey back to the summit of country cricket had been tough. “It’s been a long time rebuilding from where we were and then we went down a bit and then now to be back up here and come away with a big win, its very special,” he said. BMR won the toss and chose to bat on a pitch which had been used for a State Second XI contest from Monday to Thursday, with early wickets from Hayden Davies (4-41) and Liam Davies (2-40) getting Albany away to a strong start. With his side delicately positioned at 5-88, Rajapaksha found a partner in Rumesh Silva (28), with the pair putting on an 81-run sixth-wicket stand to help BMR towards a competitive total. The winners claimed consistent wickets throughout their turn with the ball to deny Albany any chance to build momentum in the chase, with Buddy Robinson (49) the only Whalers batter to manage a score of note. Oates (3-21) capped off a brilliant week by bagging the final two wickets to kick-start his side’s celebrations. Remarkably, last year’s Boan Cup winners Geraldton will play in B-section in 2027 after suffering a 60-run loss to West Pilbara in the relegation play-off. The reigning champions, who were without several players from their 2025 campaign, went winless through all five of their games throughout the week. Elsewhere in A-section, Upper Great Southern were forced to forfeit their third-place play-off with Peel Country due to some of their side returning home to fight the emergency-level bushfire which broke out in Crossman on Thursday, while Eastern Goldfields defeated Bunbury by 23 runs in the fifth-place play-off. Geraldton will be replaced in A-section at next year’s carnival by Esperance, who sealed promotion with a 241-run thrashing of West Pilbara in the B-section grand final. Jack Gilbert’s 102 led Esperance to an imposing total of 5-338, which they defended by routing their opponents for 97 as Daniel Styles, Jeremy Curry and Liam Norwood claimed three wickets apiece. BMR also contested grand finals in C and E-section but were defeated in both, with Port Hedland winning the C-section decider by four wickets and UGS cruising to a 10-wicket E-section victory. Port Hedland were powered to victory by a dominant showing from Zak Birchall (6-34 and 18), while UGS openers Brock Pockran (45 not out) and Rhett Ballard (29 not out) made light work of a modest victory target of 82 in E-section. Bunbury beat Eastern Goldfields by three wickets in a D-section final which came down to a tense finish despite the strong start the Blue Swans received from batters Corbyn Knox (49) and Kalani Heal (41). No grand final was played in the five-side F-section but Albany were crowned as the winners after claiming victories in three of their four games, finishing atop the table ahead of BMR on net run rate. The A-section of Women’s Country Week drew to a remarkable conclusion on Monday, with Peel cruising to the title on the back of a 10-wicket grand final win over Bunbury. The Blue Swans had gone through the entirety of the group stage undefeated but Peel openers Olivia McSweeney (60 not out) and Emily Jacobs (22 not out) made light work of their first-innings score of 104 in the final, tracking down the target with 32 balls to spare. Despite not having any regular women’s cricket in their own association, BMR won the B-section title for the second year running with an utterly dominant 104-run grand final win over Bunbury White. After making 107 in the first innings, the winners routed one of Bunbury’s two sides competing in the second division for just three, with Imogen King (5-2) and Hannah Bredenkamp (4-0) running riot. At Junior Country Week earlier this month, BMR won the under-16 A-section final over Albany by five wickets thanks to strong contributions with the bat from Aaron Mattock (72) and Tom Joyce (63). Albany cruised to a nine-wicket win over Peel Country in the under-14 A-section final on the back of some all-round brilliance from Hugo Riggall, who finished with figures of 5-4 from 3.1 overs with the ball before making 42 with the bat. The lower junior sections were played across separate pools won by West Pilbara and BMR (under-16 B), UGS and Northam (under-14 B) and Northam and UGS (under-14 C). An informal junior girls carnival was also played for the first time concurrently with the boys games, which saw teams representing Bunbury and Geraldton compete against sides from Perth.