THE UPPER Hunter Wombats have their eyes on the prize ahead of Sunday’s grand final of the John Bull Shield 2nd XI competition at the Bill Rose Sports Complex in Scone.
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It will be a replay of the last round, which saw the Wombats come away victorious against Maitland on the last ball of the match, securing them a home ground advantage.
It’s the second year that the Upper Hunter has entered the competition in recent times after narrowly missing out on the finals in 2017.
So far, they are undefeated and hoping to keep it that way come Sunday, Belmore Bulls’ Gavin Newton-Smith says.
“The side is chosen from all the teams in the local competition and with the selectors and regular captain, Nate Atkinson, deliberating over the weekend to finalise the side,” he said.
“Atkinson, who is unavailable, is coming into some red hot form scoring 106 over the weekend with Michael Davidson set to take the reigns as stand-in skipper.”
Davidson, having already led the side in to a convincing win over Cessnock said: “it’s a massive blow not being able to call upon Atkinsons’ experience and skill but I’m confident with the guys we’ve picked”.
“The last game in particular showed the composure of our young guys such as Edan Tickle and Ben Crackett with the bat, mixed with the experience of Tom Wilson, Haydon Quinlivan and Chris Simpson.
“Then in the bowling ranks, our young-guns Tim Carter, Jeremy Smith and Lachlan Cheshire are fast, aggressive and tight with the ball.”
They are backed up with Haydos who Davidson says has been “bowling really tight and more than handy with the bat and Gavin Newton-Smith has been keeping sides guessing with his wile old off spinners”.
“I think we have a great all round side with stacks of experience and a lot of great young talent”.
The side selected to take on Maitland consists of Michael Davidson (c), Andrew Clydesdale, Tom Wilson, Chris Simpson, Hayden Quinlivan, Jake Teague, Broque Smith, Jeremy Smith, Edan Tickle, Lachlan Cheshire, Tim Carter and Gavin Newton-Smith.
It will be a big weekend in local cricket with the annual charity match at the Belltrees Cricket Ground on Saturday.
For cricket fans it gets even better being a double header with Belltrees Bushrangers versus Rouchel Warriors in a 20/20 match starting at 9am.
All funds raised will go to the local charity Where there’s a Will.
