Tri-series honours on the line for Cyclones

PRIDE will be the major thing at stake when Dubbo Sportsworld hosts the annual City Blues/Country Cyclones/ACT Rockets indoor cricket tri-series this weekend.

NSW Cyclones cricket development coordinator Greg King said the contest, which acts as the major warm-up for the national tournament, is an elite event on the indoor cricket calendar and will be a very intense affair with the best junior cricketers on display.

"This tournament is now in its sixth year," King said.

"The City Blues won the first three comfortably, while the Country Cyclones took the fourth and last year's was a very close encounter which City just won by a margin of one point.

"This year promises to be another very tight contest between the teams and you can guarantee that Country v City rivalry will be to the forefront."

ACT joined the competition last year with a view of giving their players access to higher level competition, the value of which was borne through last year when the ACT 17s crew dominated both the metro and Country teams at the National tournament.

King said the City versus Country versus ACT is a major event on the indoor cricket calendar and a great chance for players to experience a higher standard of play than they're normally accustomed to in local competitions.

"The intensity of this competition held over complements the training sessions put in by the juniors as they prepare for the huge jump up to National Championships level," he said.

"It gives the juniors a tremendous opportunity to see where they're at in relation to the standard that's required and to better understand the intensity of the game at the higher level.

"It also gives them a rare chance to play as a team, always a problem when players from across NSW are brought together prior to the national tournament."

Each team plays the other teams twice, as they vie for vital partnership points.

For Dubbo Mack Shipp, Mitch Lincoln and Pat Nelson will be part of a fairly inexperienced under-13s, however all three do have experience of competing regularly in open men's grades locally.

They will be joined by the youngest squad member Anthony Atlee, aged nine, who may be lacking in age but has already displayed plenty of enthusiasm.

In the under 15s, Dubbo will be ably represented by key batsmen Ben Wheeler, Charlie Kempston and Tom Nelson.

Thom Graham and Tom Atlee will be looked to lead the way with the ball and are bound to play a major role as vital bowlers for the side.

In the under 17s Adlai Shipp and Tom Barber will make a return to the Cyclones team. Their persistence when railing for the squad has proven to be rewarding for them.

They will be joined by the now very experienced Western foursome in the shape of Marty Jeffrey, Wade Burrowes - who has recently returned to the city after playing in the Australian schoolboys under 15s championships in Sri Lanka - and Bathurst duo Ryan Peacock and Connor Slattery.

Dubbo's Emma Hughes has also been the only girl to be selected for the under-17s girls team to play at the national tournament in July.

This event will bring about 300 people to town and will commence at Dubbo Sports World from 3pm on Saturday with eight games across the three grades being contested throughout the evening.

On Sunday the teams will be on deck again from 10am and will again do battle in the grades with the presentation taking place following the completion of games at 3.30pm.