A host of junior carnivals, ranging from the under 13s right through to the under 18s colts, are being played in the school holidays and players from around Western Zone have been doing battle with some of the best young players in the state.

Players from this region have been holding their own and here we pick out a just a few of the many players each who have caught our eye.

The benefit of covering junior carnivals of any type is you're often there when players announce themselves. Parkes young gun Harry Yelland has shown plenty of talent previously but in last month's Youth Championships at Dubbo he really stood up.

Yelland starred in the under 13s competition, scoring two half centuries and a 40 while he chimed in with 3/8 one day and also kept wicket on occasion. Not bad at all.

Just to make it that little more impressive, he's still eligible for the under 13s next season as well.

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His father has terrorised bowlers in Dubbo for a number of decades and this youngster is well on his way to doing the same.

Giddings has been extremely busy lately, having captained the Western Plains Outlaws under 14s side at the Youth Championships, while he's been in action for Dubbo at the Western NSW Junior Carnival this week and next week he'll be the lone Dubbo player at the under 14s State Challenge.

Giddings was the Outlaws' leading run-scorer at the Youth Championships, making a top score of 66, while he's also delivering for RSL-Colts in the RSL-Pinnington Cup second grade competition on a local level.

Perhaps one of the best all-round cricketers in the Western region and one to watch.

Roscarel, like Giddings, has been very busy lately, playing for Western's Bradman Cup side and dominating the best country under 16s bowlers. Roscarel scored a wonderful hundred and a fifty to go along with it, to finish the top run-scorer for the competition. This week, Roscarel featured in the Dubbo under 15s in Orange and has taken eight wickets across the matches.

Possibly the most exciting fast bowling prospect around the area, Keen is a super talent.

Bowling left arm thunderbolts while being an underrated batsman, Keen has a big, big future in the sport should he stay injury free. Keen will get his first taste of senior representative cricket this weekend when he lines up for Dubbo's Western Premier League side at Parkes while he will also play at next week's State Challenge.

Twenty20 tests for Colts

The first half of the RSL-Whitney Cup first grade season didn't go exactly to plan for the defending premiers.

In no way is it near crisis point for RSL-Colts but they'll want to start producing some more consistent performances sooner rather than later.

The weekend offers the chance to start climbing up from fourth spot, with Twenty20 matches against fellow contenders Newtown and Macquarie on Friday night and Saturday respectively.

If the men in red are to win both of those we could see them get back towards the top of the table in no time.

Will leading run-scorers stay clear?

Darcy Chewings (pictured) made 336 runs in the first half of the RSL-Whitney Cup season and Chris Morton made 333. The next best, Brock Larance, is more than 180 runs back in third.

As handy as Rugby's Chewings and Morton of Colts have been so far, no batsmen has really taken the competition by the scruff of the neck yet. If someone does, it could make all the difference in what is shaping as an entertaining title race.

There's a huge amount of batting talent in the competition but consistency has been something of an issue up to this point.

Waiting to get off the mark

Across the Dubbo District Cricket Associations competitions there is two sides that are still yet to score a win this season.

South Dubbo is at the foot of the ladder again in the RSL-Whitney Cup while RSL-Colts Coolbaggie remains at the bottom in the RSL-Kelly Cup third grade competitions.

There's still been positives for both sides and their promotion of youth is a highlight but a victory in the coming weeks would be huge for confidence.

Souths meet Rugby, the side directly above them on the ladder, on Saturday while Coolbaggie resumes its season against second-placed Newtown Rhinos.

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