Young cricket players will soon be able to relish seeing their heroes in action while also being given the opportunity to strive for national selection.
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Junior cricket teams from across the state are being invited by Indoor Cricket NSW to nominate players to represent their region in Round one of the Mustang Cricket 2015 Indoor Conference Series on January 9 in the Sydney region.
Greg King is the co-ordinator for the Country Thunder, which encompasses the Western Region, and he said the conference series is comprised of players from all across NSW.
"Clubs are urged to nominate their players for the contest with the aim of giving them a whole new experience," he said.
"The conference series is aimed at giving NSW junior cricketers a taste of competitive indoor cricket.
"It is also deemed to be a starting pathway to representing a NSW team in the 2015 Cricket Australia's Junior National Championships to be hosted in Brisbane in July.
"This is the first step to cementing a spot in the Country Thunder team which will then contest the second and final round of the series in March 2015."
At the completion of the second round games the NSW Country Cyclones teams are selected to compete in Cricket Australia's National Junior Titles to be held in Brisbane during the first week of the July school holidays.
King highlighted this as the pathway for our young cricketers to represent Australia, the only exception being the 15s girls who do not, at this stage, have a grade to compete in at the Junior Nationals.
The grades to be contested in the conference series are the boys 13s and under, girls and boys 15s and under and girls and boys 17s and under.
The age qualification is that players are to be of that age or under as at December 31 of the tournament year.
King said that following round one of the conference series, players will then be taken to the Big Bash League clash between the Sydney Thunder and the Sydney Sixers that evening.
Invited teams and the regions they represent will include City Thunder and City Mustangs (city regions), Country Thunder (covering Western region), Country Mustangs (Mid and Far North Coast, New England and Central Tablelands) and Hunter Mustangs (Newcastle and Hunter).
It is shaping as a huge year for the game in 2015, with Australia also set to host the Junior Indoor Cricket World Cup in October 2015.
The staff and management at Dubbo Sportsworld would also like to send their heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the late Tony Beauchamp, who passed away suddenly on November 15.
Tony is survived by his wife Kerry-Lee and sons Rhys and Preston, who are keen cricketers.