BOMADERRY products Zac and Kealen Blattner have been rewarded for their strong play at the crease this season, named to make their National Indigenous Cricket Championships debuts.
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But it’s not in the fashion you’d expect.
Rather than pulling on the sky blue of New South Wales, the former Bomaderry High School brothers will be playing for South Australia at the February 4-11 tournament in Alice Springs.
“I received a message on Monday, January 7 from South Australia’s coach Darren Beckett, formerly part of the Shoalhaven Ex-Servicemens club, in regards to me giving him a ring,” Zac said.
“When I gave him a call, he asked if I was available to play for South Australia at the upcoming Imparja Cup – a chance I jumped at.”
Both Blattner boys, who will be joined in the side by Bomaderry first grade captain Michael Coulter in the SA team, are ecstatic to be able to represent their family at this tournament.
“It means a lot to me and my family to be selected for my first Imparja Cup – I can’t wait to just represent my culture and family and hope to do them proud,” Zac said.
“Making it even more special is the fact I get to do it alongside my younger brother Kealen and one of my good mates Michael [Coulter].”
Zac will be hoping to carrying his run scoring form with Wollongong Cricket Club into the tournament, with the 20-year-old having scored 230 runs in all competitions this season.
“While in Alice Springs, I’d love to make some runs but more importantly produce strong performances as a team and go deep into the Imparja Cup,” he said.
“In saying that, just being involved in the tournament is definitely up there in terms of my cricket achievements – I have never had the opportunity to play for an Indigenous based team before on a cricket field, so it should be really good and exciting experience.”
South Australia, which also features Marcus McGregor-Cassar, Tyrell Sinclair, Tyrell Srgoi, Blayne O’Loughlin, Steven Benbolt, Dean Miller, Jack Coppins, Keynan Harradine, Tyler Latham and Zac Chapman, will open their campaign on February 4 against Queensland at Jim McConville Oval, before matches against Northern Territory and NSW – which features Shoalhaven Ex-Servicemens’ Nate Jones.
They will finish their pool games off against Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.