ADMINISTRATOR, coach, player - Col Wood has done it all for Western Zone cricket.
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His hard work for cricket across the region was recognised during the recent WZ AGM at Wellington where he became just the sixth person to receive life membership to the zone.
He down from his long-held administrator role this year but not before the committee rewarded him for his years of passionate service both on and off the field.
Wood is the second person from Bathurst, after Greg Griffiths, to receive the honour.
He joins Griffiths, Brian Gainsford (Dubbo), Dave Wright (Cowra), Marie Cornish (Wellington) and Dennis Cox (Dubbo) on a short and highly-regarded list of life members.
"It certainly caught me by surprise," Wood said of the honour.
"It's very elite company to be in."
Wood's earliest contributions to Western Zone cricket away from the field began on the country selection panel, a position he held for seven years between 1996-97 to 2002-03.
He managed the NSW Country Colts side over that window and got to witness some of Australia's future stars in action.
"The first year of managing that side our captain was Brad Haddin," he said.
"We played against Brett Lee in that game. He was a bit too fast for us."
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From there he moved on to administrator and stayed in the role until this year's AGM.
"One of my highlights came financially. Western Zone's affiliates received a bit over $83,000 in donations and grants," Wood said.
"On the field, the highlight was beating Newcastle in 2001-02, up at Newcastle in the Country Championships final. Newcastle batted first and got 305 but we chased them down.
"We'd played Newcastle in a final a couple of years before that at Wellington, and that didn't go so well, so chasing down that score at Newcastle was unbelievable.
"Andrew Zell, Pat Rosser and John Colwell are three people who captained the open team who left no stone unturned in the quest for victory. As far as culture goes they are guys who created it in bucket loads."
His life membership comes after being inducted onto the Bathurst District Cricket Association's Roll Of Honour in March.
He's interested to see how cricket in the region develops over the coming years.
"Generally, it's looking okay. The open team has a high turnover of players because younger people move away, and that's something we have to overcome," he said.