ZAC Clarke has vowed to use in the future all of the lessons he learned during his recent selection in Central North’s Bradman Cup squad.
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While his selection came as somewhat of a surprise to the Gunnedah local, positive performances have left him with a new-found confidence in his sport of choice.
“I suppose a big thing I really managed to do throughout last week’s carnival was just play my role,” Clarke said.
“To be honest, I was a little bit surprised to get picked, but once I was there I just wanted to make the most of the opportunity.
“I’m not a massive hitter, so for me, my job was to make it as easy as possible for my teammates to come in down the order.
“Luckily there was a few games where I was able to do that and make a few runs against quality attacks, which was pleasing.”
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Clarke said battling it out with the state’s best under-16 cricketers was a “massive learning curve”.
“To be honest, coming into the carnival I didn’t think I stood much of a chance against all of those blokes,” he said.
“But then as I was facing up I just thought you’re only going to have one go at this carnival so take the most out of it.
“From there, that’s pretty much how I played every game. I just tried to soak it all in and learn as much as I could from all of the great players there.”
For the rest of the season, Clarke hopes to continue his promising form for his local club Albion.
“I think the big thing I took out of the carnival was that I now know I am capable of making a few runs,” Clarke said.
“Hopefully I can bring that into Gunnedah cricket and make a few more runs than I have been making recently.”
Clarke credited his team’s “great atmosphere” for its success during last week’s carnival in Albury.
“It was just an all around great experience with a great bunch of blokes,” he said.
“While I’m not confident of making the next stage of the State Challenge, I’m hopeful a few of my teammates will because they performed really well.”