JUNIOR cricketers will get their first taste of representative carnivals when the Far North Coast hosts two of the longest-running junior tournaments in the country.<\/p>\n
The week-long Lismore Workers Under-12 Cricket Carnival and Ballina LJ Hooker Under-13 Carnival will start on Monday, January 5.<\/p>\n
The Lismore carnival was first played in 1984, while Ballina reached its 35-year milestone last year.<\/p>\n
Far North Coast has been one of the top-performing regions at both carnivals in recent years, regularly competing against Sydney teams including Manly, North Shore and Parramatta.<\/p>\n
The Lismore carnival is often the first experience of representative cricket for many juniors.<\/p>\n
It features a mix of Twenty20 and longer formats, while the Ballina carnival is played in a 40-over format.<\/p>\n
Ballina carnival coordinator Geoff Jacobs said 16 teams would take part this year.<\/p>\n
“We like to keep it to 16 teams so everyone has the chance to play on the turf wickets,” Jacobs said.<\/p>\n
“It makes it easier for finals, and we always have plenty of clubs wanting to be involved\u00a0each year.<\/p>\n
“A fair bit of planning goes into it, we’ll easily have about 200 kids playing at grounds across the region.”<\/p>\n
Both carnivals carry strong prestige, with former and current test players including David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Josh Hazelwood and Mitchell Starc having played in them as juniors.<\/p>\n
Clunes cricketer Matthew Phelps played in the first Lismore carnival before going on to represent NSW in first-class cricket.<\/p>\n
He later returned to coach the Manly team his son played in.<\/p>\n
Former Australian test opener Michael Slater also coached one of the Manly teams at the Ballina carnival.<\/p>\n
Other players who went on to professional careers include Ben Cooper, Tom Cooper, Brendan Drew and Simon Milenko.<\/p>\n
Barry and Berni Cooper have helped steer the Lismore carnival as coordinators in recent years.<\/p>\n
“It just continues to grow, and it’s definitely been a starting point for a lot of talented players,” Barry Cooper said.<\/p>\n
“They don’t all go on to play for Australia, but most people who keep playing the game have fond memories of playing at Lismore.”<\/p>\n
The Lismore final will be held at Oakes Oval on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Ballina will finish on Friday, with the main game played at Fripp Oval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JUNIOR cricketers will get their first taste of representative carnivals when the Far North Coast hosts two of the longest-running junior tournaments in the country. The week-long Lismore Workers Under-12 Cricket Carnival and Ballina LJ Hooker Under-13 Carnival will start on Monday, January 5. The Lismore carnival was first played in 1984, while Ballina reached […]<\/p>\n