The Bathurst duo were named in the Western Zone outfit which will compete at the annual Country Championships, joining talented all-around Ryan Peacock as the city’s representatives.

Last season Stephen made his Western Zone opens debut when Seymour was forced to withdraw due to injury, so the City Colts talent is keen to share the new ball with the man nicknamed ‘Billy’ in Inverell.

“Last year Billy hurt his Achilles, so I got the call up late and I didn’t expect to be opening the bowling either, but that’s just how it went and it was pretty good,” Stephen said.

“Billy, I love working with him and bowling together.

“We open the bowling together for Bathurst. He’s just an easy going fella and easy to get along with and you know he’s going to make your job easier because of what he’s going to do at the other end.”

Just as he can’t wait to unite with the Centennials Bulls all-rounder, Stephen is keen to one more see Peacock in action for Western Zone.

The duo both played a role in helping Western Zone to be crowned Country champions last season, beating Central Coast in the decider.

Peacock’s highlights were a solid 21 in the win over Riverina and 2-31 with the ball against Ilawarra, while Stephen’s best performance was a 3-48 in the opening round victory against Southern/ACT.

“It’s awesome for Bathurst to have three of us going,” Stephen said.

“They’re awesome cricketers, they are unreal. Ryan is up and coming and he’s put a lot of hard work into his cricket, he’ll probably end up in Sydney next year I’d say.

“It’s great to be picked again. You are always learning because of all the new batters you come up against and the higher the grade, the better the batters and the harder you have to work to figure out how you are going to get them out.”

While Peacock and Stephen have retained their spots from last season and Seymour gets his chance, there have been other changes.

Nick Berry, who skippered the side last season and scored 171 runs across four games, is not playing while Matt Crawley has stood down from the coaching job which is now filled by Ian Strudwick.

Still, Stephen feels it is still a strong Western line up and one which will work hard to defend its crown.

“It will be a different-look team, there are a couple of blokes who have retired as such,” he said.

“But it’s a good bunch of blokes. There is a lot of youth coming through like Ryan and some young ones from Dubbo, and then there are some more experienced blokes like Jordan Moran and Will Lindsay who played for Country last year.

“The expectation is there. Everyone knows what they’ve got to do, it’s just a matter of going out there and doing the best job you can do.

“There’s always someone better out there, it just comes down to who’s better on the day at these carnivals.”

The Country Championship will be staged at Inverell from November 3-5.