WHEN City Colts nominated for this season's Royal Hotel Cup competition they had hoped for more than to have a winless campaign, but captain Daniel Casey has promised they'll return "bigger and better" in 2021.
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Casey said his club would "100 percent" return next year for another tilt at the Twenty20 competition and hopes Colts will be better prepared.
While other teams, such as Bathurst's St Pat's OId Boys and Centennials, have long been involved in the competition and their squad familiar with the short-format game, Colts had significantly less Twenty20 experience.
"I don't think we've ever played Bonnor [Royal Hotel] Cup as a team before. I played a bit of Bonnor Cup myself, that's back when I was playing with Redbacks years and years ago," he said.
"Tooley [Josh] would have played a bit with Cents back in the day and been a marquee and Wayne [Sellers] has played a little bit as well and Henry [Shoemark], but that's about it.
"We had a bit of a chat in the sheds after the [last] game and admitted we're just a little bit behind the eight-ball with this Twenty20, it is our first year, so we'll come back bigger and better next year and go from there."
Colts lost their first match to St Pat's Old Boys by 66 runs, which meant they needed to win their second pool game against Centrals to be a chance of advancing.
While Colts fought hard with the ball in that match last Friday night at Wade Park, they again failed to fire with the bat. This time they lost by 40 runs.
Colts were not at full strength for that match - Casey admitting "we've got an aging roster and a few of them were out with little injuries" - but it did present an opportunity for brothers Charlie and Angus Rendell.
"We did blood a couple of young fellas there, the Rendell boys, one of them is only 14-15 years old, Charlie, and he bowled relatively well," Casey sad.
"His old brother Angus is the wicket-keeper, he took a couple of good catches and had a run-out there, so he didn't look out of place at all.
St Pat's Old Boys, Centennials Bulls and Bathurst City have all qualified for the finals while Rugby Union is a chance of joining them.
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