AFTER close to three decades dedicated to the sport he loves, all of Tim Cox's achievements were recognised today when he was named Dubbo's Sportsperson of the Year at the Australia Day awards ceremony .
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Cox has achieved so much in his career but the past year was one of finest to date, capped off with selection in the Australian Country cricket team, the highest honour possible for anyone playing cricket in the bush.
The Dubbo representative captain and opening bowler was humbled by the accolade and said in a city where sport is such a key part of so many lives it meant a lot to be recognised.
"This is obviously the pinnacle, a community service and sportsperson award I feel very honoured and privileged to receive it," he said.
"There's so many great sportspeople in Dubbo and Dubbo's a great sporting community, a very powerful one, so it's a great honour and very special."
Cox's appearance at the Australian Country Championships earlier this month was the fourth time he had played with the NSW Country side but it would become the very first time he was selected for the Australian Country side.
On top of the Country Championships efforts, Cox also captained Dubbo to the semi-finals of the SCG Country Cup where his side lost to eventual champions Mereweather by just 11 runs.
Cox, who has won multiple Whitney Cups with his RSL-Colts club, will also lead Dubbo into this weekend's Western Premier League final against Parkes where his side will look to make it back-to-back titles.
But the thing which stands out the most for Cox is the friendships he's made, from Dubbo and country NSW to his time in the Sydney first grade competition with the University of NSW and the time he spent playing overseas.
"Being a team sport, you create a bond and rely on teammates so when winning an award like this you've got to think of those guys from club to the very highest level because without them you don't win these kind of awards," he said.
"That's what I love about cricket, it's a long game and goes for many hours of the day but you create great friendships and bonds with guys for life so that's the pinnacle, to be respected and gain friends for a lifetime and cricket is the perfect game for that no matter where you're playing so I'm honoured to have gained that."
Cox also took some time to look back on the year he'd had and said his impressive efforts at the Australian Country Championships, where he was NSW's leading wicket-taker, was the culmination of years of hard work, both locally and at the higher level.
"It has been very special and a there had been a few years prior to that preparing for it, the fitness levels and the body has remained healthy so that helped and having great guys around me in the Dubbo cricket fraternity to help everyone step up at the higher level, preparing all that time helped," he said.
"It was also about feeling ready myself, I knew I was more ready than the previous three or four years I played at the Australian Championships, I was confident going in after a good couple of months."