Sport
30 January, 2023
Colts’ T20 Australia vs England match a rousing success
While Colts Phelans had the bye in A grade, they were able to conduct their much-anticipated match up between an Australian XI and an English XI on Australia Day at Hedges Oval. With the day largely organised by Colts’ A grade coach Wayne...
While Colts Phelans had the bye in A grade, they were able to conduct their much-anticipated match up between an Australian XI and an English XI on Australia Day at Hedges Oval.
With the day largely organised by Colts’ A grade coach Wayne Stubbings, both teams included localised talents that play in the Maryborough Cricket District Association, such as Colts’ British trio Ed Foreman, Matt Scott and Callum Watts, while Maryborough’s Harry Lumsden was another who played for the English team.
Talented cricketers also played for the Australian team, with the likes of Colts players Rhys Egan and Matt Henderson playing, as well as Maryborough’s Nick Hoban and Lachlan Bursill.
Neighbouring talents from the Bendigo region also played, thanks to Stubbings’ previous networking over years of working in cricket in the region.
The Australian XI batted first, and would make 114 runs, albeit for the loss of 18 wickets, which would soon be chased down by an extremely talented English XI, who would finish on 6/120 to take the victory.
Stubbings said that it was great to see two talented sides converge on Hedges Oval for the day.
“It was pretty exciting to see two talented teams take the field and put on a good exhibition. There were some quality players from the UK and some local talent from around Maryborough, Castlemaine and the Bendigo area,” he said.
“As it was a friendly game, the only thing at stake was a bit of pride, but bringing together everyone at the start and explaining to them that the day was all about enjoying each other’s company and getting to know each other was what it was all about — one team travelled a great deal to get here and the other was largely local, so it was good to make sure everyone feels welcomed. That’s what cricket does, it brings them all together.
“There were plenty of people that came along to watch and stayed back for the festivities. It shows it’s a good environment and a very good club, Colts. It’s well-run and very receiving to players, people and partners from all aspects of life or the world.
“There were a few beverages drunk, and the overseas lads partied long into the night.”
Stubbings added that with Colts having two weeks off, the game gave their younger players a chance to test themselves in a match situation.
“Any game of cricket is always good at this class, and while we had a bye week, it gave most of our young talented players to play a game in a match situation. We can train as much as we want, but we can’t go past a genuine match scenario. It was good looking at that aspect,” he said.
Colts Phelans will return to action this week in A grade when they play Maryborough at Hedges Oval.
