Competing at Gosford this month, the young bowlers found themselves up against plenty of tough competition.

There were 12 teams competing in the finals, with six teams in each pool.

Mittagong Blue and Mittagong Green were in separate pools and while they both performed well, neither team progressed through to the next round.

Coach Luke Hannon said both teams finished fifth in their pools. “We got off to a slow start and never really recovered,” he said.

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The Highlands team compete in the Greater Sydney competition, which Hannon said was the strongest in the state.

“To get there [Intercentre finals] was an achievement in itself.”

It was the second time the Blue team had made it through to the finals, after the side competed in Orange last year. Hannon said it was a good “learning experience” for the Green team.

“When they go to these different centres for different contests, it makes them better bowlers.”

The finals marked the end of the representative season for the Highlands teams for 2018.

“I’m very proud of how much they’ve improved through the year, the new team [Green] especially. They just started bowling at the end of last year and I kind of fast tracked them into this [Junior Intercentre Shield] to give them experience,” Hannon said.

“They’ve doubled their average in 12 months and I’m really happy with that. In another 12 months who knows where they’ll be.”

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