A near unbeaten campaign came to a close for North Coastal yesterday (January 13) as the Country Colts battled in Bathurst over the past week.
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With their final game against Western the men from the North were bowled out for 193 before their opponents chased down the total in 28 overs.
The previous day, Macleay duo Lachie Dowling and Cooper Petterson dug North Coastal out of a significant hole to make it four from four.
Dowling and Petterson came to the crease with their side 7-98 and in trouble in the clash with Central Coast on January 12.
They both hit half centuries as North Coastal scraped to 204 all out before Petterson claimed two wickets in the run chase as Central Coast fell 97 runs short.
The win came on the back of 20-over victories against Central Coast and Newcastle earlier in the week before a 50-over win against Greater Illawarra.
Coach Brett Carlisle said opening bowler Bryce Cook along with Petterson had scored some important runs with the bat.
Fellow Mid-North Coast products Will Elliott (Forster), Jack Wakely (Macleay) and Jet Mason (Port Macquarie) have all contributed.
"We've got a very strong side and a lot of boys were involved in the winning of the Bradman Cup last year," Carlisle said.
"We do have seven or eight underage boys who are still eligible to play Colts next year, but those boys are exceptional cricketers and from throughout the North Coast zone.
"We're going through a good patch at the moment and everyone's just chipping in and doing their bit and it's making for a great team environment.
"Cooper is another one working on his batting and scored 51 not out off 60 balls and at the time we were not in a good place.
The coach was most impressed with Cook's professionalism which contributed to his match winning figures of 5-15 in the opening round of the tournament.
"Bryce is very professional, a good team player, excellent in the field and has lots of chat which keeps the boys up and is fantastic," he said.
"He's been working really hard on his batting for a number of years and I think three out of the four games so far he's scored some match winning runs as well.
"He's formed partnerships with one of our top-order batsman and he's handy with the bat. It's been very good; generally each day a different boy stands up, but it's been a real team effort."
And just how far can they all progress?
"Bryce has already made the underage Australian under-15s so he's reached the pinnacle in that age group so as long as they all keep working hard they could go anywhere."
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