Cricket: Northern Inland Bolters bound for Regional Bash opening rounds in Port Macquarie

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And, player-coach Henry Cupitt believes, it is a side with the potential to produce a similar run to last season's, which saw the Bolters make the preliminary finals.

"It's a strong lineup," Cupitt said.

"It's pretty similar to last year, with a few names coming in and a few names coming out. There's a bit of a mix in age, a lot of seasoned guys in there that have played a lot of rep cricket and a lot of high rep honours as well."

The biggest question mark around the competition is currently the weather. Originally scheduled for Armidale, the opening rounds were shifted to Port Macquarie due to the recent flooding in the region and poor forecast late this week.

With sunshine expected this weekend in Port Macquarie, Cupitt believes the strength of the Bolters' bowling will make all the difference.

"The bowling's probably going to be the key," he said.

"There's plenty of bowling options, we've got three spinners, seamers, a couple of quicks and a couple of medium pace bowlers."

Players named in the squad hail from towns across the region, including Tamworth, Armidale, Narrabri, Gunnedah, Bingara, Wee Waa, and Piallaway.

With eight front-line bowlers selected, Cupitt said the plan (should the toss go their way) will likely be to bat first and put pressure on the opposition to chase under the weight of a well-balanced bowling attack.

Their first game on Saturday will be against the Macquarie Coast Stingers, who finished last on the Sixers Pool 1 ladder last year.

This will be followed by fixtures on Sunday against the Coffs Coast Chargers and Northern Rivers Rock, who were second and first respectively on last year's ladder.

The full squad is as follows:

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