The Cricket NSW Youth Championships wrapped up earlier today, Thursday 22 December with over 1,000 combined participants, officials and spectators visiting venues in Dubbo, Wellington and Narromine this week.
The competition has been played over the past four days, at Dubbo and Wellington and is designed to strengthen and unify junior cricket pathways, focusing on equal opportunity for quality representative cricket in regional NSW.
Cricket NSW Competitions Officer Sean Mantle said he had heard nothing but positive feedback about the region and the facilities over the past few days.
"It's great that we have got venues that can have multiple matches playing at the same time, such as here in Dubbo with Lady Cutler and Victoria Park. It creates a really good atmosphere.
"You can see all the matches as they are being played and see the young talent that is coming through.
"I've heard from a few people from different areas of NSW that they are quite jealous of the facilities you have here within the Dubbo Local Government Area. Especially the opportunity for some of the younger players to play under lights at Victoria Park; that created a bit of excitement for those who haven't been able to do that before."
The event was successful in receiving $10,837.25 through its application to Dubbo Regional Council's (DRC) Destination Events Fund, which aims to support events delivering significant economic benefits. The four days of visitation due to the Youth Championships event is predicted to return an economic benefit of $871,000.
DRC Mayor Mathew Dickerson said the partnership between Council and Cricket NSW is beneficial for not only economic benefits, but social and cultural reasons also.
"As part of their funding application, Cricket NSW has agreed to bring this event back to the region in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
"What a great way for the Dubbo Region to facilitate this opportunity for local and regional players, as Dubbo services a population well beyond our LGA boundaries."
Mr Mantle said he wanted to thank DRC on behalf of Cricket NSW for the work that has been put in both before and during the event.
"It's been a really good week and it's been really successful. Dubbo is a central location for everyone around the state and the facilities are high quality."
Cricket NSW will be back in the region January 2023, with the Cricket NSW State Challenge.
