Western Zone may not have taken out the NSW Country Colts Championship but coach Matt Tabbernor feels players from his side will ensure the ongoing success of the region’s open-age side.
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The under 18s carnival came to a close on Thursday and while Riverina downed Central Coast to claim the title, Western scored a hard-fought win over ACT Southern to ensure third place.
Tabbernor stated his side’s loss to Riverina on day one put his side on the back foot immediately but he had no doubt some of his colts would be filtering through to the Zone’s senior side in the near future.
“I’ve got no doubt about that,” he said.
“The Western Zone opens side is in good stead. There’s guys like Ben Knaggs who’s a good all-rounder and a smart cricketer and there’s many other too.
“The other big thing is the talent is spread out, it’s not all congregated in one or two towns and that’s good for Western Zone cricket.”
In Thursday’s third-place playoff, where skipper Knaggs again won the toss and opted to bat, Western lost two wickets early but Brock Larance immediately upped the scoring rate.
He added 55 for the third wicket with fellow Dubbo player Henry Railz (23) before he and Atlee combined in an entertaining partnership.
Both were aggressive and brutal on anything loose on the way to adding 94 runs for the fourth wicket.
Larance fell for 87 from 77 balls, he hit 13 boundaries, while Atlee finished 76 not out from 78 balls as Western made 6/253.
ACT Southern was solid in reply and reached 4/145 at one stage but Larance (2/36), Ben Parsons (2/27) and Hamish Starr (2/39) helped Western get back into the game.
Atlee also bowled well, finishing with 1/12 from six overs.
It was the Starr who was brought back into the attack late on and he claimed the final two wickets as ACT Southern was dismissed for 233.
“It’s always good to finish with a win. Especially after the disappointment of yesterday (defeat to Newcastle),” Tabbernor said.
“It would have been easy to be flat but for some of the boys it’s their last game for Western under-age sides and they had pride in their performances and wanted to help us finish as high as we could.”
Another pelasing aspect for Tabbernor was the fact so many of his players contributed during the week at Tamworth.
Marty Jeffrey and Nic Broes both scored centuries on day two while Larance and Atlee also scored runs and almost every bowler used was effective.
“Everyone did a job and contributed,” the coach said.
“Even a guy like Corey McDean who probably didn’t get a lot of opportunities with the bat. He kept really well for basically 50 overs every day and not much got past him.”
