Players from Dubbo and Bathurst filled all but two of the spots on the 12-man squad, which was named on Monday following the weekend’s Western Zone Colts Carnival in Orange.

Leading Dubbo youngsters Brock Larance and Henry Railz have made the Western squad despite not playing at Orange while fast bowling all-rounder Tom Atlee, and batsmen Ben Wheeler and Jake Settree round out the Dubbo contingent.

Settree may be seen as something of a bolter but he cemented his spot when making 40 and then 50 in is two digs at Orange.

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It isn’t just the Dubbo players who head into the carnival on the back of strong form on both the club and representative scene, with a number of Bathurst stars also dominating lately.

Nic Broes, Ben Mitchell and Tanvir Singh scored 255 runs between themselves in Sunday’s win over Orange.

With so much talent at his disposal, Western coach Garth Dean can’t wait to see the squad in action at Narrabri from December 13-17.

“It’s exciting to take a group like that away. Hopefully they can all perform well at the same time through the week,” he said.

“We have an excellent squad but they’ve got to perform together as a team through the whole week. You can have a team full of champions but you’ve got to perform.

“The Colts Carnival (at Orange) was a good concept which we’re probably going to hang onto now. Getting the best colts players from across the region playing against one another makes the selection process more valid.

“There’s probably one or two players who have won a spot who may not have done so without this carnival. It’s a great concept we’d like to lock in for around this time each year.”

Larance was a recent centurion at the NSW CHS Cricket Championship and later this week he departs to play for the Australian under 17 side.

Railz joined forces with Penrith Cricket Club this season after proving himself a leading all-rounder in Dubbo and he has scored second grade and Podevin-Gray half centuries already.

Western will be looking to improve on last season’s efforts at the Country Colts competition. They finished the 2017-18 event with one win from three games.

Broes, Larance, Railz, Atlee, and Bogan Gate-based Corey McDean – who plays his club cricket in Dubbo – are the five players who already boast experience at the event.

They will face Central Northern, ACT and Riverina in 50 over games and will play Newcastle and Central Coast in Twenty20.

“There are guys in this team with another year to go, like Ben Mitchell and Brock Larance,” Dean said.

“We have Central Northern on the first day – the home team. They’ve already named their team so obviously they’ve been preparing for a while. That will be a really good test for us.

“If we come out of that game well then we know we’re going to be there, or thereabouts.