Starting on Friday, Bathurst will be kept busy with three games in as many days against Blue Mountains and Mudgee before finishing its campaign against main rivals Orange.

Last season Bathurst claimed its second colts title in four attempts when it beat host Mudgee.

While Bathurst has lost some squad members who have moved out of the under 19s age group the majority of the side is back to defend its crown.

Within this season’s Bathurst contingent it’s the bowling depth that coach Macpherson is most pleased about.

“I don’t really know too much about the other teams so it’s going to be interesting. I think we’ve got a very good team which should be competitive,” he said.

“I think we’ve got a really good bowling lineup. Luke Powell and Ben Parsons are two of the best bowlers in Bathurst, and they opened the bowling for the opens team last Sunday.

“Then we’ve got Joe Lemmich, Henry Allen and Peakers [Ryan Peacock] coming in to bowl as well. I think it’s going to be hard for teams to get a big tally against us.

“With the bat I expect Mark Day and Kyle Aubin to be leading the way. We’ve lost players like Brad Glasson, Jeremy Judge and Tyler Horton but I still think the team we’ve got is very strong.”

The colts age division has traditionally been a Bathurst and Orange affair.

From the 2005-06 season and onwards, Orange has claimed seven titles while Bathurst can boast four.

Orange is currently enjoying a strong run of results against Bathurst in the colts competition with victories in its last four completed matches.

Macpherson expects little to disrupt the two-team stranglehold this time around.

“I daresay Orange will be the team to beat. They’re always competitive and enjoy any match against Bathurst,” he said.

“I think we’ve got the best team we’ve had in a few years. When I was in this team I wish I had players like Luke and Ben there. They’re developing into two really good, young cricketers.”

Of the 14-strong Bathurst squad nine players will be available for every match.

Bathurst will begin the three-day carnival by hosting Blue Mountains at Morse Park 1 on Friday.

On Saturday the team travels to face Mudgee before coming back home to the Sportsground to take on Orange.

All matches will start from 10am.