Gordon had five players invited to the recent U17 State Challenge in Dubbo, held over three days in January. Last year’s Green Shield Captain Trystan Kennedy, Luke Callanan, Bryce Cook and young Dylan Ranjan and Matthew Toohey competed.

Two metropolitan and two NSW Country/Act teams competed in the challenge and our boys performed very well in trying conditions due to heat, storms and strong winds. Unfortunately the program was altered, which resulted in each team not playing every other team and limiting game time.

The highlight of the week was Trystan Kennedy’s 128 not out against Bryce Cook’s country side to carry his bat and win the match. Trystan followed that up with a well made 33 two days later.

Luke Callanan opened the bowling for one metro side, taking a wicket in his first over. Clearly the fastest bowler at the tournament, he didn’t bowl many overs all week. Luke has since been selected in the final NSW metropolitan U17 side to compete at the U19 State Challenge later in February.

Bryce Cook has a solid week as well, taking 2/30 off 8 overs in game one. He followed that up with a further 2 wickets for the week. Again, Bryce was lightly bowled and has gained selection in the NSW Country/ACT U17 side to compete at the U19 State Challenge in February.

Dylan Ranjan from this year’s Green Shield team stepped up an age group and competed memorably. A nervous start in his first few overs developed into some excellent leg spin and he finished his 10 overs with 3/37. Dylan didn’t bowl many more overs in the week, however, he will learn greatly from the experience.

Matthew Toohey also stepped up from this year’s Green Shield team and performed well. Matthew took 1/17 off 5 overs in the first game and will also learn a lot from this experience.

The club would like to congratulate Luke and Bryce on their selection in the NSW Country/ACT team.

Well done to all the Gordon players. It will be exciting to watch their development in the coming years.