BATHURST has had four players picked in the Western Zone under 19s side, which was announced yesterday morning ahead of the NSW Country Championships in Coffs Harbour next month.
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City Colts young gun Callum Hotham was rewarded for his performance both with the bat and behind the stumps in Bathurst’s outstanding opening to the President’s Cup last weekend.
He has been named to don the gloves after making a classy half-century in a big partnership with Joey Coughlan during Bathurst’s win over Orange on Sunday.
Hotham will be playing in a side led by Rugby Union up-and-comer Tom Galvin, the classy all-rounder who has spent the last couple of years dominating the ISA school cricket ranks with the All Saints’ first XI.
St Stanislaus’ College duo Daniel Donato and Nick Grant complete the quartet, Grant having established himself last summer as part of the Bathurst under 21s team.
Donato has played the majority of his representative cricket with Orange prior to becoming an integral part of his school’s side.
Zone selector Neil Doherty says the side is packed with batting depth and that there is no reason they shouldn’t be replicating their performances in recent years where they have been consistently in the top four at the Country titles.
“That’s certainly the strength of the team, we bat very deep and there are going to be some very good players down around nine and 10. That’s the nature of representative teams like this though,” he said.
“It is always going to be a struggle to win this tournament. There are some very good sides there but we have traditionally done very well and were only a few runs short of making the final last year.
“We were beaten by the team [North Coast] who went on to win. We’re not far off.”
In many cases the players picked for the zone side selected themselves, with players like Donato, Galvin and Dubbo strike bowler Ben Patterson having been automatic picks for Western age teams for a few years now.
Others like Hotham showed the benefit of performing when it mattered.
“Callum wasn’t rushed straight into the side just because he hit that half-century for Bathurst last week, but it certainly made a good case for him,” Doherty said.
“A few of the boys in there have been part of the 17s and 19s teams for a while. Daniel Donato is one who has been part of these sides for a long time. He can’t bowl at the moment due to injury but he’ll still hold a spot as a batsman.
“Nick Grant is a very good medium-fast bowler. He’s very accurate and bowling alongside someone like Ben Patterson it gives us a good attack.
“Ben has been outstanding at representative level both at Country Championships and with the Dubbo opens side and Western Zone opens.”
WESTERN ZONE: Tom Galvin (c), Daniel Donato, Callum Hotham, Nick Grant (Bathurst), Connor Crook, Jacob McNaught (Cowra), Ben Patterson, Asher Robins (Dubbo), Charles Litchfield (Orange), Vince Umbers (Parkes), Alex Crowther (Blue Mountains), Nick Chapman (Mudgee).
