DUBBO'S Western Stars indoor cricket representative teams will continue to apply a youth policy as it looks to defend its crown in the Northern NSW BBI Men's 1 Indoor Cricket, and rise back up to the top in the lower divisions.
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The Western Stars will be traveling to Charlestown this Saturday to take on the Charlestown Chargers and the Maitland Panthers in round one of the competition.
The Western Stars have won the flag in Men's 1's six out of the last seven years, and despite the average age of the team being around only 22, all the players who are likely to line up for the Stars have played in at least two of those wins, with a handful having starred in five or six of the wins.
Steve Skinner will again captain the youthful team. Jordan Peacock and Aidan Bennewith add some real class to the team, while the return of Ben Patterson to the fold will be sure to inject some life and a whole lot of interest.
Dan Holland and Wade Burrowes are certainties to line up as well, and are always leading contributors to the team with bat and ball.
Experienced duo Dan Horrocks and Mat Skinner will both miss this round, and will likely not get much time on the court this winter, with Horrocks having his first child born recently and Skinner fracturing a bone in his wrist.
The omission of these two players has been the only dampener for the Stars, but it will give great opportunity to the likes of Justin Knudsen and Tom Barber, who have been consistent performers in the Men's 2s in the last couple of seasons.
The Men's 2's will be the youngest team to take the field in the Western Star's short history. NSW Blues Under 20's representatives Bailey Edmunds (19) and Tom Barber (17) will likely be the oldest players on court at 19 years of age, with the team likely to comprise Dubbo players who have been selected in the 15's and 17's NSW Country Cyclones teams.
This level of competition will be a great experience for the young players as they challenge themselves against the seniors.
Adlai Shipp, Henry Railz, Mitch Russo, Tom Atlee, Thomas Nelson, Mitch Lincoln will all get introduced into the 2's at some stage in the competition, and should hopefully form a talented young team. Cyclones coaches from Dubbo, Don Skinner and Greg King, will also be keeping a watchful eye over this team.
The Men's 3's have struggled for consistency over the past few years. One of the major contributing factors has been a shortage of players across the grades, and juggling players, playing across multiple grades. This year is shaping up as one we're hopefully the team will be much more consistent.
Josh Wright, Jackson Peacock and Will Benson will lead the bowling attack, while Mitch Lincoln, Peter Wark and Kevin Newbold will be vital with the bat in hand.
The Masters team will also include some new faces, with the hard-hitting trio of Mark Dee, Marty Nelson and Heath Larance expected to add plenty of fire power to the batting unit.
They will join returning players Al Lloyd, Scott Barber, Andrew Walden and Jeff Burrowes.
