After their first taste of playing for Western Zone two weeks ago Orange’s Hugh Middleton, Phoebe Litchfield and Blake Weymouth will make their maiden appearance for NSW Country at this week’s Cricket NSW Under-14 State Challenge at Dubbo and Wellington.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The trio will line-up for the Country Thunder Tornadoes, which will take on the Country Sixers Swell, Metro Thunder Cyclone and Metro Sixers Wave teams in pool B of the tournament. In pool A, the Country Thunder Storm will play the Country Sixers Riptides, Metro Thunder Lightning and Metro Sixers Dunes.
For those playing at home, the Country Thunder Tornadoes has be re-named from the Western-Riverina Kangaroos.
The side will take on Metro Sixers Waves in a blockbuster opening game at Dubbo’s Lady Cutler 3.
Weymouth and Middleton have experience at this level before, having represented the Kangaroos last summer while Litchfield makes her State Challenge debut.
Litchfield in particular is bringing some serious form into the competition, she was the leading run-scorer at last week’s inaugural all-girls’ Western NSW Under-15 Carnival, blasting 183 runs at an average of 45.75 including a top score of 100 not out.
She was, in fact, the leading run-scorer of the entire week, besting all the other girls and all the young guns in the boys’ competition too. The nearest to her were Dubbo’s Connor Watts (171 at 57) from the boys’ carnivals ACT’s Bella Grieg (133 at 44.33) in the girls’ tournament.
The trio will be joined in the Country Thunder Tornadoes side by Western teammates Will Hutchison, Ryan Dunn, Lachie Endacott and Darcy Leadbitter – from Lithgow, Parkes, Mudgee and Forbes respectively.
All the games – Monday through Wednesday morning – kick off at 8.30am, before Wednesday afternoon’s final preliminary round at 12.30pm.
The finals will be played on Australia Day, starting at 8.30am.
Orange’s other Western Zone representative, Nick Warburton, was unlucky to miss selection for the side following the Kookaburra Cup in Griffith.
Despite playing a starring role on the final day in taking 4-9, Warburton narrowly missed out on a spot for this week’s tournament.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
