![Mitch Lincoln is the new cricket competition manager for the Tamworth Indoor Sports Centre Picture by Peter Hardin Mitch Lincoln is the new cricket competition manager for the Tamworth Indoor Sports Centre Picture by Peter Hardin](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ingYyB85ps4jmG9t8mfsHP/867fd0dc-39cc-4e0e-b223-fd91a58dddbf.jpg/r0_0_6926_4433_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
It was for Mitch Lincoln an offer too good to refuse as they say.
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The long-time avid cricketer is the new cricket competition manager for the Tamworth Indoor Sports Centre.
For the former Cricket NSW development officer it's a pretty dream gig and one he was only too happy to take on.
"This is an awesome opportunity, I'm glad it was offered to me and I'm going to grab it with both hands and see how we go," he said.
Only in the role for a few weeks, the centre will be holding a meet-and-greet with Lincoln and come-and-try night for the Tuesday night competition on December 5.
"If anyone is interested they can come on down and I'll do an explanation of how the game works, what the rules are, run through a few scenarios and all that kind of stuff," he explained.
"And then there's a free barbecue."
It is open to anyone over 15.
The current competition is at the finals stage with the grand finals this Tuesday night.
Lincoln is keen to get to work and hopefully build on what has been a good competition and a "very successful" rep season.
After last year only fielding a division one men's side in the Northern NSW Indoor Cricket Superleague and finishing last, this year the Thunderbolts entered three - men's 1, men's 2 and over 40s - with the men's 1, which Lincoln captained, making it through to the grand final.
Unfortunately they fell just short of the silverware, going down to his former side, the Dubbo-based Western Stars.
Out of it they did have a number of players selected into the Allstar teams. Lincoln, Pete Watson and Dan Bryant made the men's 1, Mark Stephens the men's 2 and Ray Dening the over 40s.
The 21-year-old has been involved with indoor "for a long time" and is a multiple NSW representative player.
When The Leader caught up with him, he was helping with a junior program.
"We've got an eight-week program running for junior development cricket," he said.
"We have our juniors turn up, we just do fundamentals, basic drills and stuff to get them to develop their skills into the game for later on."
Many of them are already playing some form of outdoor cricket, and while the basic concept is the same, the two formats are very different.
For one the pace of the game in indoor is "a lot quicker".
"A lot of people say outdoor cricket gets very boring sitting around but indoor cricket, its always fast, it's always moving and there's always something happening," he said.
Relocating from Dubbo in April 2021 - he wanted "a change of scenery" - Lincoln played the 2022/23 season with North Tamworth.
This season he has moved across to Old Boys.
Between holidays, byes and wet weather it has been a bit of an inconsistent start to the season, but Lincoln said it's happy with how it's going so far.
"I'm still sort of getting the cobwebs out," he said.
The come-and-try night will run from 6pm.