A 220 kilometre round trip for three consecutive days would have been a tough ask for the Campion clan for Armidale’s annual Walter Taylor Shield.
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But the youngest Campion, Bradyn, managed to make the trip worthwhile with a series of standout performances in the annual under 15 carnival, playing for the host team.
While his older brother Matt has claimed numerous headlines for his efforts on the pitch and in cross country running, Bradyn emerged from his shadow with a hat-trick, topping the batting averages and half a ton in the battle for third and fourth on the final day.
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Campion missed the first day of the carnival but fellow Glen Innes youngster Mitch Duddy was there as the Armidale District team took on West Pennant Hills-Cherrybrook.
Duddy took two catches in the match as Armidale thumped their opponents by 134 runs.
The second day’s play saw two Twenty20 matches for the team with the first against eventual shield winners, Gold Coast.
It was a tough learning curve for the young Armidale team who were bowled out in 18.5 overs for 60, Campion being the last man standing with four not out.
The second match of the day against Ballina saw Campion claim his hat-trick, the only one of the carnival.
His first two wickets came at the end of an over and when he stepped up for the first ball of his next over, he clean bowled the batsman and was swamped by his teammates. He finished with 3-10 from his four overs.
The following day’s clash against the Hunter Valley saw the Armidale team dominate with the bat.
Duddy was missing from the team as he hit the road to play for Central North in the annual Kookaburra Cup in Albury. Olly Schmude scored 109, the highest tally for the carnival, as Armidale went on to bat out their 50 overs and finish on 4-241.
Campion added 39 not out to his run tally.
He then opened the bowling and mounted pressure on his opponents.
While Campion didn’t claim a wicket, his early pace and pressure saw his teammates capitalise as Hunter failed to run down Armidale’s total.
The final day the home side came up against Manly.
With the battle for the Shield between two Queensland teams, Armidale and Manly’s encounter was a battle for top spot in NSW.
Armidale batted first and finished with 8-164, Campion top-scoring with 54.
Ball in hand, Armidale’s Tom Craig took the two opening batsmen for Manly to have them at 2-18.
Manly number three batsman Luke Harvey dug in with 50 before being dismissed by Armidale’s Brock Parsons, while their skipper Ben Eady managed 33, eventually succumbing to Sam Johnson.
Wickets began to tumble for Manly but they held on.
The final over saw them needing seven runs to win or Armidale securing one wicket.
Hayden Schumacher cleaned up the bails to dismiss the final batsman and hand Armidale the win, third spot in the competition and the top NSW team.
Campion’s final performance left him with the highest batting average for the competition.