WESTERN may have returned home without a win from their three NSW Country Championship southern pool matches but captain Jameel Qureshi is staying positive knowing that he has a young side with plenty of cricket ahead of them.
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The team tried their hardest to avoid a sweep against ACT Southern Districts in Sunday's closing game but their opponents caught the total of 222 with five wickets and 21 deliveries in hand.
Bathurst's Connor Slattery (67) and Ryan Peacock (54) led the way with the bat, supported by Dubbo's Ben Wheeler (32) and Mitch Bower (26) in a well-rounded performance from Western with the willow.
But it was once again in the field where Western let the game get away from them.
Several errors let ACT stay on top of the chase but a highlight for Western was the performance of Orange bowler Hugh Le Lievre with 2-27 from his eight overs.
"I think we scored the most runs over the carnival and we were always in our games but I think we just lost our games more than other teams winning them, to be honest," Western captain Jameel Qureshi said.
"On the first day we lost our last four wickets in four balls and if we bat out our overs we probably win that game. Our catching also wasn't great. It's disappointing to lose all games but that's something we can work on for next year with such a young squad.
"Connor Slattery batted really well in that last game. Ryan Peacock and Benny Wheeler did really well. Brent Tucker and Hugh Le Lievre also bowled well."
Time will tell whether Western will have anyone named in the NSW country squad - a tough ask when he go 0-3 in your championship games - but Qureshi wouldn't be surprised to see any of his players make the cut.
"No-one in that side would let anyone down. I'll leave the selectors to do all that, but if we could get anyone in there then that would be great," he said.
"It's hard to know what the selectors will be looking for when they put together a team but anyone from this team wouldn't let anyone down wearing that hat."
Slattery (101), Bower (92) and Imran Qureshi (86) filled positions four through six on the top southern pool's runscorers chart for the tournament.
Bower showed off his all-round capabilities with six wickets across the three games (equal third most) at an average of 19.7.