THERE was a time when Western Zone selectors were delighted to see Mitch Hearn in action, but when he lines up at Bathurst’s Sportsground on Sunday it may not be the case.
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It is because the Mudgee native who formerly represented Western is now captain of the Illawarra Flames side which will take on the Central West Wranglers and Orana Outlaws in one of the Thunder Conference pools of the Regional Bash.
A talent with both bat and ball, Hearn knows many of the Wranglers and Outlaws he will take on at the Sportsground.
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They will no doubt remember him as well, Hearn's exploits before leaving the Central West including a man-of-the-match performance against Bathurst’s colts in 2011 when he blasted a quick 69 and claimed three scalps to lead Mudgee to its first win in two years.
“I’ve played a lot of cricket in Bathurst, I’ve got a pretty good connection with the west. I grew up in Mudgee and played all my cricket there until I was 20,” Hearn said.
“I’ve played with and against a lot of the guys who I’m playing this weekend, so it should be nice to see them again.
“I’ve played a lot at the Sportsground. I always enjoy it there. I remember it’s always flat, but with that bit of rain around it’s probably greened it up a bit.”
This is the first year which Hearn has been involved with the Flames and he is hoping to lead the side to an improvement on its recent campaigns.
While reaching the preliminary final in the competition’s inaugural season, in 2015-16 the Flames were eliminated in round one and when switching to the pool format last summer, lost each of its three Sixers Conference matches – going down to Hunter Hitmen, Newcastle Blasters and Central Coast Rush.
However, for 2018-19 the Flames side has not only switched to the Thunder Conference, but expanded the talent base from which it can draw upon.
“The zone has changed a little bit this year so we’ve got a combined Illawarra and Highlands team, we are drawing on players from the Illawarra competition, which is quite a big competition around Wollongong, and then the Highlands which is the likes of Bowral,” Hearn said.
“We are probably weighted more towards bowling, so we’ll attack in that part of the game, but we’ve got some really good batsmen as well.
“Fielding will be important, but we’ve got a very young team and a very fit team as well, so hopefully we can do well there and create a lot of pressure in the field.
“I think it’s exciting because it’s such a short format. You think about a plan and then there’s a wave that goes through the innings and you’ve got to stay on top of it, you’ve got to trust your plan.
“You’ve really got to stay on top of the game and I think we can do that through our fielding.”
ILLAWARRA FLAMES: Mitch Hearn (c), Jason Bunyan, Jye Phillips, Xavier McDevitt, Thomas McDevitt, David Wood, Toby Dodds, Luke McGregor, Mitchell Wright, Ben Wright, Matthew Arnull, Jack Whitfield, Matthew Pike.
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