Western Plains Outlaws selector John Colwell is excited about this year's squad ahead of their first Plan B Regional Bash match on December 11.
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Colwell and the selection committee have named a 15-man squad from the region who will take part in three matches in two days with the first game to be played in Orange while the other two will be in Wollongong.
RSL Colts wicketkeeper Jason Ryan will captain the side this year and Colwell admitted the veteran's experience was the main factor behind his appointment.
"We were hoping to get a couple more guys," he said.
"Mitchy Bower obviously has family commitments so he is unavailable.
"He would've been nice and handy. So we out JR (Jason Ryan) in as captain for a bit of experience."
Dubbo Premier League captain Marty Jeffrey and Brock Larance will both act as vice-captains of the side which Colwell believes will keep the Outlaws in good stead going into the future.
"Obviously Marty runs the Dubbo team," he said.
"But we thought at the next level he might get his go next year.
"Him and Brock (Larance) might step up next year."
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The Outlaws are stacked with aggressive batting talent with the trio of Ben Wheeler, Larance and Chris Morton all capable of getting off to a flying start in the short format.
While the squad also features pace bowlers Ben Patterson, Bailey Edmunds and Mat Skinner, Colwell believes the Outlaws could use an extra fast bowling option across the three matches.
"We're probably one quick short," he said.
"A couple of the quicks pulled out. We are just still trying to get one more quick hopefully but I don't know. It is a good team."
This season the Outlaws have a few new faces as well as some familiar ones with former RSL Colts all-rounder Greg Buckley and former Sydney Thunder star Tim Armstrong both named in the squad for the opening weekend.
"Timmy Armstrong is available one day and there is a guy that played first grade for Randwick last year (Matthew) Everett who has moved back to Gilgandra," he said.
"Hopefully he is available for Saturday and I'm not sure about Sunday.
"We've got blokes coming in either day.
"We've got a few older heads which we needed to have and the kids who will hopefully learn to take over next year."
Not much is known about Everett who has recently returned to Gilgandra but he has also been named in the Western Zone Squad to train later this year.
As is the case with selecting representative teams, sometimes people are left out and Colwell feels that is possibly the hardest part of the job.
"It was unbelievable," he said.
"There's bit a little bit of criticism from some of my mates.
"It was a bit of a balance but the two Strachan's were unavailable.
"It made it a little bit harder and would've gave us more experience and depth.
"Tommy Nelson got a run and I think it's a good squad.
"They should go well."
The Outlaws will open their campaign against rivals the Central West Wranglers at Wade Park in Orange on December 11 before taking on the South Coast Crew and Illawarra Flames the following day in Wollongong.
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