There’s an “exciting” amount of talent in the Dubbo side which will contest the first edition of the under 18s Western Zone Championship.
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A desire to give players of that age more representative cricket, and to ensure a more rigorous selection process for the under 18s Western Zone outfit, led to the creation of the championship, which will be played out at Orange on November 24 and 25.
The carnival at Orange will see Dubbo take on the hosts, Bathurst, and a Chairman’s XI made up predominately of players form the Lachlan Cricket Council.
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The Dubbo side, to be coached by Trevor Thomas, was announced earlier this week and it is one stacked with talent.
The entire side has RSL-Whitney Cup first grade experience while the likes of Brock Larance, Henry Railz, Thomas Nelson, and Tom Atlee have all played a glut of higher representative matches.
With so much talent at his disposal, Thomas doesn’t want a strong showing at Orange. He wants to see a huge Dubbo presence in the Western Zone side which will contest the NSW Country Cricket Colts Championship at Narrabri from December 17-21.
“I’ve been involved with these kids for some time now and I’m excited about their ability,” Thomas said.
“I’d like to see as many as possible get in the Western side but it’s up to them and how they perform.
“Hopefully they perform well as a team because that would see more players get in.”
Larance, Railz, Atlee, and Nelson were all part of the Western Zone side which won two of four matches at last season’s country titles and all four will be expected to be in the mix again this season.
As well as that group, the likes of Rugby trio Campbell Rose, Ben Wheeler, and Baye Wallace will also be pushing for higher honours after developing into key first grade players at Dubbo.
Rose, Wheeler, Larance, Nelson, and Railz will all be part of a powerful batting lineup at Orange while there is plenty of variety and depth in the bowling attack.
Railz, Atlee, James ‘Busta’ Nelson, and Rhys Beauchamp provide the pace options while in Mitch Ashford and Larance there is two leading spin bowlers.
“It’s a chance for these kids to come together as a team,” Thomas said.
“In the past the (Western) side was chosen from first grade competitions and when they’d go away they wouldn’t gel straight away so getting them all together for a couple of days in Orange will be good.
“There’s not always a lot for the under 18s outside first or second grade and we want to have a better look at these guys.”
Thomas added a captain of the Dubbo squad has yet to be chosen.
- DUBBO SQUAD: Mitch Ashford, Tom Atlee, Rhys Beauchamp, Tom Coady, Brock Larance, James Nelson, Thomas Nelson, Henry Railz, Campbell Rose, Jake Settree, Baye Wallace, Ben Wheeler