Dubbo junior cricketers are starting to dominate around the state

It is somewhat of a sweet spot for Dubbo cricket with four juniors playing in Premier Cricket competitions across Australia while closer-to-home juniors are dominating at the representative level.

Henry Railz (Penrith) and Tom Coady (Eastern Suburbs) have begun to make waves in the NSW Premier Cricket while Brock Larance has excelled since moving to Perth.

Wellington's Callee Black now plays her cricket for Penrith in the NSW Women's competition as does Emma Hughes, an NSW and Sydney Sixers contracted player.

It's talents like those above which has many cricket lovers excited and Shepherd believes there is a simple reason why Dubbo is producing exceptional talents.

"It's just a credit to the system we've had out here for a long time, by that I mean the club structure we have," he said.

"I'm a big believer in that structure because I believe it creates good cricketers because there is competition to get to the next grade and so on before going through the Outlaws or Macquarie Valley pathways onto Western Zone.

"It's always been a pretty robust pathway and it is a credit to what we've done out here on the sides of that as well.

"We've had academies and coaches who keep nurturing the local talent to bring it through."

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Dubbo made up the majority of the Western Zone side which recently won the NSW Country Colts competition in Queanbeyan for the first time since 2006/07, another team dominated by players from the city.

Just prior to Christmas, the Western Plains Outlaws under 15s won the NSW Youth Championships Southern Pool.

After being an administrator, coach, umpire and player over the last several decades, Shepherd is confident the standard of cricket changes through the age groups, something which he saw first-hand towards the end of 2022.

"It's funny, you got through ebbs and flows with age groups, " he said.

"There is nothing magical about it, sometimes you get a group who just have a bit more ability but a big part of it is the way players adapt as they got up the ranks.

"They no longer are the big fish and they work out how to be part of a team, I was managing that Western Zone colts team.

"It was probably the best team I have been involved with ever in terms of how they pulled together. They are all good players when you get to that stage, it's about how you contribute to the team."

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