Four Bathurst players named in the Western Zone Cricket squad

The squad coached by Andrew Zell will feature four players from Bathurst, six players from Dubbo's Whitney Cup while Parkes and Orange are also represented.

Following Bathurst star Jameel Qureshi's move to step away from representative cricket, Dubbo captain Marty Jeffrey has been named to lead the side.

Western Zone Cricket president Mark Frecklington is confident the incoming players will have every opportunity to prove themselves against some of the best cricketers NSW Country has.

"There are some new faces there for sure," he said.

"There are a few guys who have moved on, away or retired.

"Now there is a good opportunity for the new guys to show their wares."

Brien, who has been in excellent touch for both St Pat's and Bathurst, will make his Western senior debut.

His team-mates will include fellow Bathurst talents Ryan Peacock, Nic Broes and Connor Slattery.

Orange spinner Lachlan Skelly is another set to make his debut, while regular Western quick Brent Tucker will have a fellow left-armer with Ed Morrish being named.

Frecklington admitted he hadn't noticed too much of a difference in the side but believes it is a credit to Western's junior pathway system.

"Absolutely [it is a credit], without thinking about it we have got a fairly young side," he said.

"It's not young but there certainly are some young guys there.

"It bodes well for Western Cricket and it's great to see a few of those younger guys put their hand up for selection."

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With some ordinary weather around several parts of the state including Orange, Frecklington is confident the grounds will be up to scratch for the first match which is set to take place on November 25.

"It is tricky, the weather hasn't been nice to us," he said.

"I think we still should be okay, we've had enough grounds up and running over the last month so we should be right."

Tamworth will host the other pool for the Country Championships this weekend, something Frecklington believes will still happen after they also are dealing with floods.

"I haven't seen any update, I know Country Cricket NSW has been checking in with us pretty regularly," he said.

"In the last update everything was okay but obviously that was a while ago and things have changed since then."

Western will face Central Coast in their opening match which will be a day/night fixture before matches against ACT and Riverina the following days.

WESTERN ZONE: Marty Jeffrey (captain), Ryan Peacock, Nic Broes, Ben Wheeler, Matt Everett, Cooper Brien, Bailey Edmunds, Ed Morrish, Ben Knaggs, Connor Slattery, Brent Tucker, Lachlan Strachan, Lachlan Skelly.

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