Tamworth's under-12s are continuing their cricketing education this week.
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The Simon Hood and James Haling-coached side will finish off their representative season at the annual Lismore carnival.
The four day carnival will pit them against sides from all over the state including Sydney, and be a great learning experience, Hood said.
For many of them it will be their first experience of the rigors of carnival cricket, and the challenges that presents.
"At this stage every game I think is learning for them," he said.
Not so much the basics of the game, they know them, it's more about game awareness. For example knowing when runs are there.
That was one of the things that let them down in the final of the Northern Inland competition, where after being undefeated through the round stages, they went down to Armidale.
"In the final we got a couple of run outs and then we got a bit gun shy and weren't taking the runs when they were there," Hood said.
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Another area he highlighted from the loss that he and Haling would like to see them improve is their batting. Because they were bowling sides out pretty cheaply throughout the competition it meant the batsmen didn't have a lot of opportunities in the middle.
Then when the opportunity came in the final they struggled to deal with the straight and full bowling of the Armidale attack.
"What we want them to take out of the carnival is how to build and construct an innings," Hood said.
"We want the guys to learn how to bat long and be patient."
They will get a good chance to on Thursday. In deference to the Northern Inland competition where their allotted overs are split over two innings, it will be a straight 45-over game.
Hood said that will be a good test for them.
The carnival will wrap up what has been a good season as they begin their representative journeys.
"This is where it starts," he said.
"From now these kids are looking at Kookaburra Cup selection and Northern Inland under-13s selection."
And while Hood said, he and Haling would like to win a couple of games at Lismore, mainly they "want them to play their best their best cricket and keep improving".
