After three strong wins in their opening matches last week at Newcastle the Western Zone side came up against North Coast in the final but succumbed to the northerners' powerful batting lineup, going down by just 27 runs.

Dubbo trio Tom Atlee, Tom Nelson and Henry Railz were standout players for Western and were all rewarded with NSW Country places and will now take part in the NSW State Challenge, to be played at Dubbo later this month.

James 'Busta' Nelson and Daniel Duffy were also in the Western side which finished as runners-up.

The side was coached by Bathurst's Garth Dean while Dubbo's Trevor Thomas was manager and he admitted the three Dubbo Country representatives produced some hugely impressive performances.

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"Someone different contributed each day, I thought Henry Railz was good the first two days when he got 44 both times then Tom Nelson contributed really well with the bat each day and played a really good team game, he sacrificed his wicket to boost the scoring of the team if he had to and on the third day it was a brilliant 82 from Tom Atlee, he smashed them around," he said.

In the first match, against Riverina, Western made 5-179 in 50 overs and comfortably restricted Riverina to 9-155 in reply.

Against Central Coast, Western made 8-184 before dismissing the Coastal boys for 143.

Western's strong batting line-up hit top gear against Illawarra, scoring 248, and the bowlers then rolled Illawarra for 98.

Going up against North Coast in the final was always going to be a difficult task and they came up against a batting lineup which featured a well known cricketing name.

Jack Cooper is the younger brother of Tom Cooper, the current South Australia and Melbourne Renegades star batsmen, and the youngster made 117 in the final to lead his side to a total of 219 and despite the best efforts of Tom Nelson, who made 72, Western just fell short.

"It's the third time I've been the manager in a final and haven't brought home the bickies yet. Tom Nelson's innings in the final was really good, he controlled the strike really well and if a couple of things went our way he might have got us home but it was a big ask," Thomas said, before praising Cooper's innings.

"He looks like a really good batsmen but he hadn't scored many runs so before the game he wasn't a red light for us but all of a sudden he came in and looked really good, he's going to be a special player."

Thomas said all involved in the Western side should have been proud of their efforts while he also took time to commend coach Dean and again congratulate the three Country representatives.

"Garth is a great coach, he gets the best out of the boys and they way he speaks is really good, he gets the boys to listen, they all try their best and that's all we ask for them and they performed exceptionally well all week," he said.

"And the three boys should enjoy the carnival, it's another step up again because they get to play two city sides and another country side."