TALK about Black gold - star Bathurst allrounder Callee Black unleashed a brutal and brilliant display of batting for the Western Zone under 15 girls on Thursday as she cracked 114 off just 65 deliveries.
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In the 80 minutes Black spent at the crease at Orange's Jack Brabham 1, she tore apart the Lane Cove bowling attack as she sent the ball over the rope six times and notched up 14 boundaries.
She eventually retired on an unbeaten 114, a knock which helped Western to finish the Under 15 Western NSW Girls Carnival with a four-wicket win.
It was an effort which once again demonstrated why Black is one of the most exciting talents in Western Zone.
Western coach Rob Dimmick, who also guided Black in her younger years in Wellington, was not surprised at the display. He was already well aware of her talent.
"Like I knew that [she had talent] five years ago when I had her playing under 12s in Wellington when she was 10," he said.
"It's actually been a while since I've seen Callee play, so it's pretty exciting to see how far she's come with her cricket in general.
"I think a lot of people have that opinion that she's got a big future - it's hard to crystal ball but she's going to be there and thereabouts."
Black did not join the Western squad for the under 15s carnival with the intent to feature with the bat, but rather to help guide the less experienced members of the young squad.
Her presence was appreciated by both Dimmick and her team-mates.
"Even though she is still in the right age group, she came along in a mentor-assistant coach type role. Because she is the right age she could go out and help in the field," Dimmick said.
"We had a pretty young team that's why when Callee said she wanted to come and help us out it was a bit of a bonus. It was an under 15s comp, but we only had two girls who were genuine under 15s, we had one under 12 and probably half the team were under 13s.
"So to have her and those few experienced girls leading the team and supporting the team, it made a huge difference for the week."
While Black's involvement was in the main limited to fielding over the first three days of the carnival - she'd batted once at number eight and was dismissed for one - on Thursday injuries meant Dimmick gave her the nod to wield the willow.
Lane Cove had made 183 batting first then captured their first wicket with Western having just four runs on the board. But that saw Black arrive at the crease and momentum shifted.
She dominated a 101-run second wicket partnership with Olivia Dimmick (six) as she punished any loose deliveries.
By the time she retired Western was in a solid position, Nierka Hann hitting an unbeaten 17 off 11 to seal the win in the 36th over.
"She just applied herself and set a platform for us to end up having a comfortable win," the coach said of Black.
"Anything that was loose either side of the wicket was going to the boundary and she cleared the boundary a couple of times as well.
"Both our girls batting with her and watching her learned, but also the opposition girls getting a chance to see someone who is batting with that level of class."
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