LAST month she was a member of the Western side which ended an eight-year drought the Country Cricket NSW Girls Under 16s Championships, but now Chloe Stapleton is aiming to help end another wait.
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The Kelso High all-rounder has been named in the Western schools team which will compete at the New South Wales CHS Girls Cricket Championships in Bathurst next week.
Western has not won that tournament since 2012, but it is hoped the improvement shown by the squad last year when placing sixth is a sign that better things could come.
Stapleton brings good experience to the side as not only did she find success at the under 16s country titles last month, but she backed up to play at the under 19 championships as well.
She plays junior club cricket for Rugby Union in the under 15s-opens competition, while Stapleton has also experienced playing at the senior level in Bathurst as a member of the Bushrangers' president's cup side.
The Year 10 student also lined up in Western's team at last year's NSW CHS Championships.
"Chloe, she was in the Western side last year, she's in the Kelso High School girls team and she does a lot of cricket outside of school also," championship manager and Kelso High teacher David Amaral said.
"She's a good batter and a good bowler.
"Last year Sydney North won it and Western came in sixth place, so middle of the table. I'm not sure what their expectation is this year, but last time Western won it was in 2012, so fingers crossed we can do well this year."
Western, which has claimed the CHS honours 12 times since 1977, will have the advantage of playing on familiar wickets as Bathurst hosts the tournament for the second consecutive year. It's something no other city has done over the past 44 years.
It means Bathurst could be playing host to a future state or Australian star given the likes of Lisa Griffith, Alex and Kate Blackwell, Belinda Clarke, Nicola Carey and Ash Gardner have played at previous CHS championships.
"It's coming to Bathurst for the second time in two years, it normally doesn't come back but because of COVID they decided to have it in Bathurst again," Amaral said.
"It's going to be quality cricketers, a quality carnival and some of the girls from across all these regions are contracted to the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder.
"There's a lot of potential that could come out of this carnival and there are a lot of pathways for players to go to."
Western is one of 10 teams who will compete at the carnival. They will play a pair of Twenty20 matches on both Monday and Tuesday, followed by a 50-over fixture on Wednesday.
Results from those games will determine which teams will play for the title on Thursday and who will contest classification matches. They will be 50-over format.
Western begins its campaign 9.30am Monday at the Sportsground against Sydney East before meeting Riverina at the same venue from 1.20pm.
