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Lithgow District Cricket Association has teamed up with the NSW Baggy Blues Tour and Rural Adversity Mental Health Program (RAMHP) to promote mental health awareness in Lithgow.
On Wednesday, February 24 and Thursday, February 25, 10 NSW Baggy Blues Tour ambassadors and six NSW contracted players will make a visit to town.
A VIP Sportsman Dinner will be held at Club Lithgow on Wednesday night where the importance of mental health in regional areas will be discussed.
On Thursday, a morning golf game with players and ambassadors will be an opportunity for those interested.
The group will then host a junior coaching clinic at Tony Luchetti Sportsground from 4pm to 5.30pm followed by a T20 match involving LDCA players and six current NSW players.
Players from the Big Bash League Sydney Sixers side include Ben Manenti, Nick Bertus, Mickey Edwards and Jake Edwards. Chris Green from Sydney Thunder will also be on tour with NSW Rookie contract Ryan Hadley.
Ambassadors on tour are Steve Rixon, Rick McCosker, Len Pascoe, Geoff Lawson, John Dyson, Phil Emery, Gavin Robinson, Simon Cook, Pat Farhart, Phil Marks and Coach Warren Smith.
Ambassadors Profiles
Trevor Bayliss is an Australian cricket coach and former first class cricketer. He played for NSW between 1985 and 1997 before becoming a coach.
Bayliss was coach of England from 2015 to 2019. He coached Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2011, a period which culminated in his team finishing as runners-up in the 2011 World Cup. He has also coached the Sydney Sixers in Australia's Big Bash League and the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. Under his management, the Knight Riders became IPL champions, twice, in 2012 and 2014. He also led the Sixers to a BBL title in the 2011-12 season and a CLT20 title the same year. He has also been appointed as a Head coach for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League for the year 2020.
Steve Rixon is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer. He played in 13 Tests and 6 One Day Internationals between 1977 and 1985. He is currently the fielding coach of the Sri Lanka national cricket team.
Rick McCosker is a former NSW and Australian cricketer. He played in 25 Tests and 14 One Day Internationals in a career spanning 1975 to 1982 playing as a right hand batsman.
He is well remembered for playing in the 1977 Centenary Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after he had his jaw broken by a bouncer off Bob Willis in the 1st innings. In the second innings he batted at number ten in bandages with his jaw wired shut, making 25, and 54 for the ninth wicket in partnership with Rod Marsh. Australia won the match by 45 runs.
He also played in the World Series Cricket team, and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1976. He is depicted by Aidan March in the Channel 9 series Howzat! Kerry Packer's War.
Len Pascoe is a former Australian Test and One Day International cricketer.
Pascoe played in 14 Tests and 29 ODIs between 1977 and 1982, during which time he transferred to World Series Cricket. In the 1980 Centenary Test at The Oval in London, he took 5/59 in the 1st innings. Pascoe retired from international cricket due to a knee injury after the 1981/82 Frank Worrell Trophy series in Australia.
Geoff Lawson is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer and the former coach of the Pakistan cricket team.
Nicknamed "Henry" after the Australian poet, Lawson was a fast bowler for NSW and Australia. He first played for NSW in 1977-78, made his international debut in 1980-81. Lawson made three tours of England, including the 1989 Ashes-winning tour.
For a few seasons in the early 1980s, Lawson was Australia's leading fast bowler, but his career suffered from poor luck with injury.
John Dyson: is a former international cricketer (batsman) who is now a cricket coach, most recently in charge of the West Indies.
He played 30 Test matches and 29 ODIs for Australia from 1977 to 1984. Dyson is probably best remembered for his "catch of the century" at the SCG, West Indies v Australia, 5 January 1982 when he caught Sylvester Clarke in the outfield, over his head, at a 45-degree angle to the ground, running backwards.
Phil Emery is a former Australian and NSW cricketer. He was a wicket-keeper and valuable left handed batsman.
Emery was educated at Newington College Preparatory School, Lindfield (1969- 72),[1] and Shore School, North Sydney (1973-1982). At Shore, he was captain of cricket and captain of rugby and subsequently represented GPS teams in both sports. Emery represented Gordon at the Sydney Grade Cricket level. He then made his debut for the NSW Cricket team during the 1987-88 season replacing the previous wicketkeeper Greg Dyer.
Emery captained NSW to their 42nd Sheffield Shield title during the 1993-94 season.
He played in one Test and one ODI, both in Pakistan relieving Ian Healy who was out due to injury. This makes Emery only the third wicket-keeper (together with the long-serving Healy and Adam Gilchrist) to keep wicket in an Australian Test cricket team to Shane Warne (1992-2007) and Glenn McGrath (1993-2007) during their long Test careers.
Gavin Robertson made his debut for the NSW Blues in 1987. Two seasons later he moved to Tasmania in search of more playing time. He moved back to NSW after 2 seasons with the Tigers and was part of the successful 1992-93 Sheffield Shield winning team. He retired in 2000.
Robertson made his Test debut for Australia in March 1998 against India in Chennai. He claimed 5 wickets in total. In Australia's first innings, by scoring 57, he shared a 96 runs partnership with Ian Healy for the 9th wicket to help the Australians for taking first innings lead. However, a Sachin Tendulkar century helped the Indians to post a match winning total in the second Innings.
Simon Cook is an Australian former cricketer. After graduating from the Australian Cricket Academy, he debuted for Victoria early in 1993. He showed promise in the 1993/94 season, taking 30 wickets at 29.5.
He moved to New South Wales in the 1995/96 season. He was a surprise selection in two Test matches against New Zealand late in 1997, despite being considered by some to be not even up to first-class standard.[1] On his debut, he took five wickets in the second innings against New Zealand in Perth.
Soon after his two Tests, which yielded a respectable bowling average of 20 as a replacement for Glenn McGrath, Cook disappeared off the scene fairly quickly due to injuries. He did play four more Sheffield Shield games in that 1997/98 season, including two four-wicket hauls, but in 1998/99 played just two games for just one wicket.
Pat Farhart is an Australian Physiotherapy Association Titled Sports Physiotherapist.
He has 26 years of experience in the assessment and management of musculoskeletal injury and has been involved in private physiotherapy practice since 1990. He served as the head physiotherapist to the NSW cricket team from 1990 to 2009 and to the Hampshire cricket team in England from 2002 to 2006. He has worked with the Australian cricket team on tours to England (1989 and 2001), Pakistan (1998), New Zealand (2000), South Africa (2000) and India (2001).
He has also previously worked with high level Australian Football and Rugby League teams. He is currently the physiotherapist for the Sydney Sixers 20/20 cricket team and is also the physiotherapist to the Kings XI Punjab Team in the Indian Premier League.
Phil Marks is an Australian cricketer. He played 13 first-class and seven List A matches for NSW between 1983/84 and 1989/90.
Coach Warren Smith OAM has made an extraordinary contribution to Wagga Wagga, Riverina and NSW cricket through his 46 years as a coach, including overseeing the development of NSW and Australian batsman Michael Slater, NSW Blues all-rounder Dominic Thornely and Victorian and Australian all-rounder Andrew McDonald.
Amongst his achievements as a coach, he was the Southern NSW Director of Coaching for 20 years and took the Riverina to their inaugural Country Cup win in 2003.
- To get involved visit the NSW Baggy Blues Tour Lithgow Facebook event.