North Coastal’s Mid and North Coast cricketers keen to outshine Manly-Warringa rivals in U16 Country v City clash
Young elite cricketers from the Mid-North and North Coast will be on show when a decades-long rivalry between city and country comes to a head again this weekend.
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Young elite cricketers from the Mid-North and North Coast will be on show when a decades-long rivalry between the best of city and country comes to a head again this weekend.
The under-16 winners of the country championship Bradman Cup, North Coastal, will represent regional NSW against victors from the AW Green Shield, Manly-Warringah, who will carry the pride of metro NSW.
Mid and North Coast players include Jamison Dawes and Taylor Gilbert from Dorrigo, Quinn Cooper from Macksville, Riley Mitchell from Kempsey, Kai Dalli from Lismore and Harry Kershler from Cudgen.
But North Coastal’s Bradman Cup winning Coach Justin Gilbert explained: “The metropolitan teams can have two country players in their squads.”
“It’s very common for country kids to play on city teams in the AW Green Shield,” he said.
“We had Kai (Dalli) and Harry (Kershler), who played for Manly. We also had Taylor Gilbert play for Bankstown, Lockie Barnes played for Northern Districts and (there’s) Riley Weir, who played for Eastern Suburbs.”
Gilbert said the cricketers were some of the best young talent in the nation and the North Coastal side would be “keen to show up the city boys” in the U16 Country v City clash come Sunday.
One North Coastal player to watch will be marquee bowler from Dorrigo, Jamison Dawes.
During the Bradman Cup, the right-arm wrist spinner managed 4-13 against Riverina and 3-12 against Central Coast.
“He’s one of those kids who is getting better and better,” Gilbert said.
As a “big tall kid” Dawes gets a lot of overspin on the ball.
“His control with his bowling is improving and I see him being a big force this weekend against Manly,” Gilbert said.
Renowned as one of the world’s premier junior club competitions, the AW Green Shield has been a launch pad for many of NSW and Australian cricket’s finest players – including Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Sean Abbott, Stephen O’Keefe, Ollie and Joel Davies.
The Bradman Cup draws the best country players from zones across country NSW, ranging from Tweed Heads, south to the Riverina.
North Coastal’s team will feature: Harry Kershler, Quinn Cooper, Riley Weir, Kai Dalli, Taylor Gilbert, Dan Craig, Cooper Williams, Jamison Dawes, Joe Parsons, Lachlan Barnes and Riley Mitchell.
The two teams will challenge one another to a 50 overs a side duel at Weldon Oval, Curl Curl in Sydney from 9.30am on Sunday.
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