North West made a disappointing start to their State CHS Boys Cricket Championship campaign at Wollongong on Monday.
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The Andrew Curry-coached side was beaten by Sydney West by nine wickets after failing to fire with the bat.
They could only muster 115 with only four batsmen registering double figures.
“The other side bowled really well,” Curry said.
“They bowled in very good areas and we found it hard to rotate the strike enough.”
Narrabri High’s Coby Cornish and Farrer’s Lachlan Fauchon gave them a good start putting on 39 for the first wicket.
“Coby got a few away for us and was batting pretty well until he got caught behind off one he probably shouldn’t have gone at,” Curry said.
His dismissal for 26 from 39 saw them lose a bit of momentum, Fauchon holding things together until he fell for 31 with North West one short of triple figures.
Farrer’s Lachlan Barton (11) and Gunnedah High’s Adam McGuirk (10) were the only other batsmen to make double figures, the pressure for runs leading to the undoing of a few of the batsmen.
“We lost a lot of wickets going for the runs in the end,” Curry said.
There was then little joy for the bowlers as Zeeshaan Ahmed (64no) steered Sydney West to the target inside 25 overs.
“We had a big appeal (for lbw) on the first ball,” Curry said.
“Little things like that if it went the other way it might have been different.”
“But the boys never gave up, they kept trying to the end.”
He thought Ryan Meppem (0-20) and Joe Smith (0-17) particularly bowled well.
“The quicks did well too,” he said.
“We just didn’t have enough runs.”
Moree Secondary College’s Paddy Montgomery was the lone wickettaker and finished with 1-23.
Curry said the boys were still in good spirits and looking forward to their next match against Sydney East at Rex Jackson Oval Helensburgh on Tuesday.
“They’ll be fairly strong,” Curry said.
And smarting from a first up loss.
North West team: Ryan Meppem (Narrabri HS), Joe Smith (Inverell HS), James McGowan (Farrer), Lachlan Cooke (Farrer), Adam McGuirk (Gunnedah HS), Coby Cornish (Narrabri HS), Lachlan Fauchon (Farrer), Jack Carey (Armidale HS), Jaiden Tasker (Inverell HS), Cooper Barnes (Farrer), Lachlan Barton (Farrer), Paddy Montgomery (Moree Secondary College).