AFTER their successful opening trial match against Gordon the Western Zone under 18s are out to keep the good times coming in their upcoming trip to Sydney.
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Western have two more trials against St George and Penrith this Tuesday and Wednesday respectively to determine their final team for the representative season.
If their recent 109-run win over Gordon at The Scots School is anything to go by then Western will be difficult for the Sydney clubs to overcome.
However, Western manager Greg Nicholls said his side are completely in the dark when it comes to both teams.
“We haven’t seen anything about who they’ve got. I’d assume there would be a couple of guys in there with lower level Sydney grade experience,” he said.
“If not then there’s likely to be Poidevin-Gray or Green Shield players who would make up a majority of their teams, along with maybe third or fourth grade Sydney players.”
Western’s big win over Gordon wasn’t without its faults and Nicholls is interested to see how well his team learn from their mistakes.
“Starting well with the bat is the key. We lost a couple early on, so if we can get a good start, keep those early wickets, it gives us a chance to accelerate later on,” he said.
A big name returning player for Western this week is Orange’s NSW/ACT Country under 17s representative Fletcher Rose.
Over-age player Ryan Peacock won’t be on hand to assist the Western boys, nor will Luke Powell.
The Bathurst pair take on the NSW Under 19s State Challenge, which gets underway from Tuesday.
Hamish Starr will also be away at the State Challenge and Mark Day is unavailable.
Ben Mitchell and Tanvir Singh both put in superb all-round performances for Western in their under 16s game against Gordon. Both have been called up to test themselves in the colts age group.
Under 16s opener Bailey Brien also comes up to assist the Western colts.
“Tanvir and Ben will both take a lot of confidence away from that last game, and it gives us a bit of a boost in our bowling options,” Nicholls said.