Narrabri is preparing for a tough assignment against Inverell on Sunday as they push for a Country Plate third-round berth.
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Both sides are brimming with young talent and equally wary of the other.
“They’re a good side,” Narrabri skipper Lachlan Cameron said.
“The strength of their side definitely isn’t lost on us. With the two young guys (Sage Cook and Tom Scoble), and Dave (Mudaliar) coming back, they’re a pretty formidable side.”
Narrabri last season made it all the way through to the semi-finals of the competition, and were impressive in their opening game against Gunnedah, posting 8-240 and then dismissing them for 140.
Cameron will be looking for more of the same on Sunday, especially with the bat.
“We’ve got a pretty long batting line-up this week,” he said.
“Again we’ll have to really concentrate on being patient and batting our 50 overs out. And if we bat first get a good total.”
Their bowling admittedly isn’t probably as strong as against Gunnedah with openers Craig Trindall and Gareth Lamond both unavailable.
Trindall was, with Ryan Meppem, the pick of their bowlers and will be a big loss.
Nick Smart and Mark Page have been listed to come in for them, and Cameron has full faith the attack can do the job.
“We’ve got young guys like Nathan Trindall trying to step up,” Cameron said.
Page will also play a significant role with the ball, having “reinvented himself as a smarter slow medium bowler”.
Before he was a bit of a tearaway.
“Now he relies on line and length and doing a bit with the ball,” Cameron said.
And they’ve got plenty of depth in their tweakers in Jake Brayshaw, Chris Sargent and Meppem. Jake Packer is also back bowling again.
“We’ve potentially we’ve got 40 pretty decent overs of turn there,” he said.
Inverell have so far had good wins over Moree and Glen Innes and have played some fantastic cricket, opener Mudaliar said.
“There’s a good vibe in the team,” he said.
Narrabri though will be “a big jump up from Glen Innes”, and they’ll have to bat well to get near to the 9-256 they posted last week.
“The last two times we’ve played them they’ve had a pretty solid bowling attack. It’s not going to be an easy day with the bat,” Mudaliar said.
Conversely, he singled out Meppem as one they’ll have to watch with the bat.
“He’ll definitely be wanting to have an impact it’s up to us to try and find a way to stop him having an impact,” he said.
The other game involving Northern Inland teams sees Walcha hosting Tamworth’s Old Boys.