Skilful Sam has the Wright stuff

EVERYTHING has been going right for Sam Wright, with the talented cricketer selected for the Cricket Australia XI squad after a standout under-17 national championships in Mackay last week.

Wright, 16, was selected in the side after a strong performance across the two weeks of the championships and will travel to Perth in December to play for the CA XI in the under-19 national championships. The right-hand batsman finished the tournament as the second leading runscorer, with only South Australian Isaac Higgins making more runs. The Tasmanian captain impressed with 111 against the Cricket Australia XI and 80 against ACT/NSW Country, scoring 271 runs across his six matches at an average of 45.17.

Since playing in the under-17 championships last year as an underage player, Wright has been working hard at his club New Town and with Cricket Tasmania staff.

“I suppose I thought I had the preparation that I needed to perform at the championships,” Wright said.

“It was rewarding to come away with the accolade.

“It was surreal really, there has been a lot of hard work put into it over the pre-season.

“Making the squad has been my goal for the last year or so, and it was good to be able to reach that.”

The CA XI squad was announced at the end of the under-17 championships by Cricket Australia national talent and pathway manager Graham Manou.

Wright is ready to put in the preparation once again to hopefully prove himself in the higher age group.

“I will now be training down here with the under-19 Tassie squad and then will be heading up a few days before the carnival for some training with the full [CA XI] squad before getting into it,” Wright said.

“It was nice to achieve that and I’m ready to work hard again and go from here to hopefully have a good championship.”