BICTON resident Ashton Turner and his Australian teammates had a dream run at the Under-19 ICC World Cup cricket tournament but did not get the fairytale finish they were after.
As event hosts and as a strongly performing unit, the Australian team were favourites to win the event and went through it undefeated, but fell one match short when they went down by six wickets to an impressive India side in the final in Townsville on Sunday.
This was despite a handy knock of 43 at almost a run a ball from Turner, who also picked up a wicket in the match.
Early wickets left Australia reeling at 4-38 and despite a batting recovery that included Turner’s counter-attacking innings, a total of 225 proved to be insufficient and was chased down by India with 14 balls to spare.
The Fremantle Cricket Club all-rounder was one of the players of the tournament as a leading wicket taker and also a handy run scorer.
Turner was the 11th highest wicket taker for the tournament, with 11 scalps in six matches at an average of 16.18 and with best match figures of 4-28.
Turner’s were the second best batting figures for his team, with a series average of 48.5, behind only captain William Bosisto, who was named player of the series.
Despite the disappointment of losing the final, Turner looks to have a bright future.
The former Bicton Junior Cricket Club player is a rookie with the Western Warriors and on the strength of his performance in the world cup it is not hard to imagine him donning Australian colours again.