A COMBINED Horsham and West Wimmera Cricket Association team will travel to Warrnambool to compete in the under-17 country week carnival this week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Coach Glenn Carroll said the team had done the best it could to gel prior to the carnival.
“We’ve been talking about doing it for months but it only really came together when we had our first training session together up at Nhill on Thursday,” he said.
“It’s difficult because a lot of the kids are off working here and there.”
Traditionally the two associations have each sent teams to the carnival but have had to pool their players together in order to form a squad with the bare minimum 11 players.
The squad includes Jono Carroll and Shanaye Alexander as overage payers.
“Jono was originally just going to be coming as a back up player and to help organise the team but we had a player pull out and we now have the bare minimum,” he said.
“Shanaye is also a very handy player having played for the Western Waves at the state championships in December.”
The squad’s strength will lie within its bowling department.
Coach Carroll said the side would be in the game if it could make scores of over 150 batting first.
“The bowling should certainly be steady enough but the batting side of the game will be more of a challenge,” he said.
“Chasing 150 might be more difficult.
“We certainly have some batsmen who are good enough to score plenty of runs but we will be likely to rely on just a few.”
Mitch Martin and Corey Smith will likely lead the way with the willow for the side with coach Carroll hopeful they will take their time at the crease.
“We are playing 50-over games so there is plenty of time for batsmen to play themselves in,” he said.
The side will play in Group A along with Wimmera-Mallee, Colac, and Warrnambool cricket association sides.
It will start its week off with a tough hit-out against Warrnambool Gold on Tuesday at Jetty Flat.
The side will look forward to its games against the neighbouring Wimmera-Mallee association at Reid Oval on Wednesday.
The team’s final pool game will be against Colac on Thursday at J.D.E. Walter Oval before it plays a final game on Friday to decide its finishing position.