WHEN Bathurst trio Josh Toole, Matt Stephen and Ryan Peacock lace up their spikes on Friday, it will be in preparation to face some of the leading cricketers in country New South Wales.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But just as the teams they will face over three days of competition in the annual NSW Country Championships’ Southern Pool in Shellharbour have players to watch, they themselves shape as match winners.
Toole and Peacock will join the Western Zone team fresh from scoring centuries in Bathurst club cricket last Saturday.
Stephen’s talents as an all-rounder earned him a call up on Tuesday following the withdrawal of fellow Bathurst talent Aaron Seymour.
He will make his Western debut at Shellharbour, having previously represented Mitchell.
Toole hit a monster 179 for his club side Centennials Bulls, that knock adding to the 93 and 92 he scored in previous matches.
Peacock cracked triple figures batting for Rugby Union, showing his poise under pressure as he notched up his 100th run on the final ball of the innings.
“Imran [Qureshi] came out when we had drinks with two overs to go and told me where I was at, I think I was on 92 at that stage,” Peacock said.
“It was a sneaky single at the end. I was pretty lucky actually, I hit it straight back to Wayne Sellers but he missed the stumps. It was a risk that I had to take.
“I was talking to Tooley the other day and he was telling me that it was the best that he’s ever been seeing it.”
Toole and Peacock were part of last year’s Western Zone outfit which won two of its three pool games but missed the final.
Newcastle went on to take the honours by beating Southern Pool victors Southern/ACT.
However, Newcastle will not defend its title this time around as Central Coast topped the Northern Pool to win through to the November 27 grand final.
Peacock is confident Western can join them and add the 2016 Country Championships crown to the one it claimed two years ago.
Western faces Southern/ACT on Friday, Riverina on Saturday and Illawarra on Sunday.
“It’s always handy having a side that’s fairly unchanged from the year before, that is always really helpful when you are looking to be successful,” Peacock said.
“We weren’t far off last year, so hopefully we can go a step further this year.
“It was only probably 45 minutes of batting which cost us last year and that’s a pretty easy fix I think. We should go close again this year I think.”
Peacock will also be looking for an improved personal performance from what he produced at last year’s championships when he made his senior Western debut.
He only batted once – making 17 in the loss to Southern/ACT – and while he proved economical with the ball, claimed just one wicket.
“It’s a massive step up, just the experience of the guys that you are playing with and against as well is second to none really,” the teenager said.
“There are a lot of guys that have had experience playing in Sydney and are back in their zone, so they have had very high level experience.
“Especially when you look at a zone side like Newcastle, their grade comp is pretty unreal.
“But I like playing with guys like Jordan Moran and Mitch Bower, that has really helped me a lot because of how experienced they are at that level.
“It was a bit of a strange one last year going into sort of an unknown environment where I wasn’t sure about the names I was playing against, where from junior cricket I know a lot of the guys I am playing against. That was probably the biggest thing.”
Last year for Western, Toole made scores of one and 64 in his two innings, while he also brings with him the experience of playing in the 2014 championship winning side.