As Maitland battles to keep its rising stars from defecting to Newcastle clubs, one talented 17-year-old spends seven hours a week on the road to further his first-grade dreams.
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Kurri Weston all-rounder Lucas Stair took a huge step to cementing his place in the Warriors line-up after taking 5-12 to help rout the Western Suburbs batting for just 96 at Coronation Oval on Saturday.
Kurri Weston had a six-wicket win with captain Ben Herring making 39, Sam Dalibozek 39 not out and Stair 7 not out as the Warriors posted 4/97 off 19.2 overs in reply.
Stair, who lives on the family farm near Denman, had last season away while travelling for work as a contract farmer, but had travelled the three-and-a-half-hour round trip to training once a week and games for the previous two seasons with his mum or dad.
"It's a lot easier now, I can drive myself. I'm about an hour-and-three-quarters away. I'm from the other side of Denman," said Stair, a left-arm orthodox spinner.
It's a scenario many Maitland-based cricketers face as they travel to Newcastle to play in the grade competition, and Sydney for junior cricket in the under-16 Green Shield, which features teams from all 20 NSW Premier Cricket clubs.
Central North Zone head coach Aaron Mahony said as long as players were part of the Cricket NSW pathways program, there was no right or wrong answer on whether to move to Newcastle grade early from Maitland.
Mahony said he had opted to stay in Maitland's first grade longer and didn't move into Newcastle until he was 20.
"My opinion is that bloke should be knocking down the door in Maitland, like scoring first-grade hundreds regularly, and then sort of head down when they've established themselves a bit more," he said.
"Younger blokes are tending to go a bit earlier, playing a bit of second grade and stuff.
"If they go to Newcastle, they're still in the Central North pathway, so they can still play the Central North for Bradman Cup (under-16s) and Colts (under-19s).
"I think the main thing is that they are enjoying their cricket and getting value from where they're playing."
Stair said his representative coaches had suggested the move to the Maitland competition three years ago to play in a better competition.
"I was playing kids a lot younger than me, and a couple of my rep coaches suggested I come down here to play in a strong comp, so I did, and I haven't looked back," said Stair, who played his rep cricket with Coalfields.
"I'm more of a bowling all-rounder now. I've leaned a lot more into bowling for the last couple of years. And the opportunities opened up this year for first grade.
"As soon as I came back, the captain told me they had lost their spinner, so I'd be playing first grade.
"I only took my first first-grade wicket last week. I was very happy to take five this week."
Stair said he is happy at Kurri Weston for now and will not be pushing for representative honours this year as he tries to find the balance between work, travel and sport.
"I'm very happy I came down here a couple of years ago. It's been really good," he said.
A number of leading young players have opted to play in Newcastle in recent seasons, including Raymond Terrace's Jacob and Lachlan Page (Wallsend), Wests' Rhys Tyrell and Josh and Sam Edmonds (University), Norths' Harry Dunn and Keanu Botha (Wests) and Will Parkinson (Wallsend).
Others playing in lower grades in Newcastle include Izach Dennis (Wests/Stockton), Tremayne Small (Norths/Stockton), and Izaac Coyle (City United/Newcastle City).
Mahony's Central North under-19s team at the McDonald's Country Colts Carnival finished fourth and featured Newcastle-based Maitland juniors Dunn, Botha and Parkinson.
Maitland-based players included Northern Suburbs trio Tom Long, Jacob Callan and Riely Brown, as well as 15-year-old Easts junior Charlie Lovegrove, who made his first-grade debut in round one.
Getting a reward for your commitment is the key, and Maitland and the Coalfields representative teams from U-12 to U-17 will this year play in a different competition and reduce their travel to centres in the state's west, such as Tamworth.
The distance was one issue, but one-sided games meant many players were not getting a chance to bat or bowl.
From U-12 to U-15, Maitland and Coalfields will play in the Greater Hunter Competition against Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Central Coast.
In U-17s, Maitland and Coalifelds take part in Pool B of the Watson Shield, against Sydney-based teams.
Warriors, Easts, Thornton and Norths win
Long continued from his 61 off 62 balls on debut, scoring 42 not out in Norths' winning total of 5/272 against Tenambit Morpeth, while Brown scored a run-a-ball 29.
Sean Gibson again led from the front, making 71 before being run out, Ryder Howard made 47 off 64, while Steven Thomson, who comes to the club from Queensland, made 54 off just 27 balls.
Bulls all-rounder Ryan Wind threatened to turn the game on its head with some big hitting.
His 56 came off just 32 balls and included six fours and four sixes, one of which cleared the fence beside the grandstand and almost hit a car driving by and another which went over the childcare centre adjoining the ground.
Tebin Liby made 43 off 60.
Luke Dempster was on a hat-trick for Norths and finished with 3-31, while Thomson took 3-38 off 5.4 overs.
Kurri Weston bounced back from an opening-round loss to Tenambit Morpeth to cruise to a six-wicket win against Western Suburbs at Coronation Oval.
The Plovers, who were missing several regular first graders, were all-out for 96, with openers Justin Lantry 36 off 23 and Lachlan Davies 25, offering the most resistance.
Both were dismissed by Lucas Stair, who finished with 5-12, with the other four bowlers used picking up wickets.
Warriors skipper Ben Herring made 39 and Sam Dalibozek 39 not out in their 4/97 off 19.2 overs.
Eastern Suburbs has started the season with two strong wins, making an impressive 6/343, before dismissing City for 170.
UK import Toby Jones made 82 not out, Patrick Stewart 70, Will Stoneman 71, and Charlie Lovegrove 72 off 67, including eight fours and four sixes.
Matt Trappel made a quickfire 42 for City, and Riley Petrie made 29. Nic Neild took 4-32 and Tom Lovegrove 2-34 for Easts with the ball.
Dan Willis (36 not out) and Jake Reeves (21 not out) steered premiers Thornton to a hard-fought four-wicket win against Raymond Terrace.
Brent Lilley top scored with 30 not out as Thornton were restricted to 9/130 off their 50 overs. Cameron Bates 3-19 and Brent Dawes 3-32 were the best with the ball for Thornton.
Thornton reached their target in the 45th over, posting 6-135. Daniel Upward and Steve Smith both took two wickets.
