As Travis Ling prepares to leave Tamworth and with it the Connolly Cup setup, he says the cup side is in good stead with the youth coming through.
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The most recent debutantes being Luke Gentle and Charlie Henderson.
They both played their first game of Connolly Cup on Sunday with Gentle only coming into the team at the last minute.
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Hayden Baker was a late withdrawal from the side and Ling, pictured, brought Gentle into the side after playing against the young leg spinner on Saturday.
"He was hard to get away. Good line and length," Ling said of Gentle.
"He's not a massive turner but has a good temperament and attitude."
Henderson got his chance while filling in for regular wicketkeeper Callum Henry.
"We brought him in as a wicketkeeper-batsman and he batted at six," Ling said.
"He was batting really well until him and Zac [Craig] got in a mix up and he was run out and he kept really well."
Ling is leaving Tamworth after getting a transfer to Port Stephens-Hunter Police but not before he finishes the season with South Tamworth.
He has been based in Tamworth from 2016 and has played the last few Connolly Cup seasons. Along with the aforementioned juniors, Ling said the likes of Zac Craig, Kilian Apen, Matt Holmes, Max Keft-Gill and Sam Murphy, amongst others, made the future look bright for Tamworth cricket.
"It is looking strong," Ling said.
"It's about getting exposure to senior cricket and I know guys like Sam Murphy are relishing it. He had 1-3 from six yesterday [Sunday] and he's done that all season."
Ling said there was the opportunity to build now for next year after a season where Tamworth just missed out on a finals berth.
Tamworth forfeited their first game of the season which in the end was the difference between making the finals and missing out.
"I'm slightly disappointed from a team perspective. We are a far better team than fourth," Ling said.
"Narrabri Blue finished second, and take nothing away from their performance, but Gunnedah are the pinnacle of our league and I think we were the second best team."
Ben Jaffrey
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
