NOT many players can say they made their Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket debut at 14-years-old, but City Colts youngster Cooper Stephen will do just that on Saturday afternoon.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Stephen, who won the Bathurst District Cricket Association president cup grand final last season, has made the step up to second grade with his father and former first grade skipper Matt Stephen for the 2022-23 season.
But due to a number of players being out in first grade, the father and son duo have been called up into the first grade squad for the match against Orange CYMS on Saturday.
Stephen said it'll be an amazing moment to play alongside his son in first grade.
READ MORE:
"It was probably the highlight of cricketing career to play alongside side him in presidents cup and a few games in second grade," he said.
"It's just worked out this weekend that he's been picked in first grade."
Stephen said Cooper should learn a lot from playing first grade on Saturday.
"The plan was that he would play second grade this year. Hopefully he'll get a lot out of it and learn from everyone, but we'll be playing together this weekend in first grade," he said.
"It's a big step up but to be honest, I'd back him 100 per cent that he will do the best he can and get the most of it he can."
After a stellar 2021-22 season, Stephen was named the Central West junior cricketer of the year.
City Colts has played just the one game this season, going down by 30 runs in its round two clash with Orange City last Saturday.
Saturday's one day match against Orange CYMS will get underway at 1pm from Loco Oval.
With another four games scheduled for Saturday, rain is likely to prove a headache for cricketers again, after the opening round was washed out and two of last round's matches too.
RAIN has the bane of Bathurst cricketers for the opening two rounds of the Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket (BOIDC), but it look like it'll be the case again for round three.
Both ORC and Centennials Bulls are yet to play a game in BOIDC this season, as well as Orange clubs Cavaliers and CYMS.
Round three fixtures (all games start at 1pm):
- CENTRALS vs. ORANGE CITY @ Riawena Oval, Orange
- CAVALIERS vs. ORC @ Wade Park, Orange
- CITY COLTS vs. CYMS @ Loco Oval, Bathurst
- ST PAT'S OLD BOYS vs. BATHURST CITY @ George Park 1, Bathurst
- RUGBY UNION vs. CENTENNIALS BULLS @ Morse Park 1, Bathurst
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
