Batsmen shine as cricketers put names forward for country week selection

Nestles' Jacob Hetherington shone with 83 while Merrivale's Theo Opperman made a half-century atop the order on Sunday, December 10.

The match helps selectors in their quest to pick the best side to represent the region at Melbourne Country Week in February.

Warrnambool captain Chris Bant said the pair impressed and carried on strong form from club level.

Hetherington blasted a ton in the Factory's Twenty20 game three days prior while Opperman has 347 runs from 12 matches for the Tigers so far this season.

"Jake was really good through the middle order," Bant said.

"He hit the ball really clean, came in and middled everything really, hit a couple of nice sixes and plenty of boundries. He was good to watch.

"Theo took the bowling on, hit the guys over the top pretty good. We didn't know how the wicket would be after being under the (rain) covers for a couple of days but he made it look pretty easy."

Bant said Bailey Jenkinson (North Warrnambool Eels), Zavier Mungean (Wesley Yambuk Titans) and Campbell Love (Brierly Christ-Church) "all chipped in with 30 or 40 each".

Bant was pleased with Warrnambool's spread of run-makers as they won by more than 100 runs.

"We made 312 I think it was which I thought was a pretty good score," he said.

"The wicket was good and the ground was fast. With the ball we bowled to pretty good areas.

"Our fielding probably wasn't to the standard we expect - we dropped a couple of catches and had a couple of mis-fields but that happens."

Bant, who is eyeing a spot on the bus to Melbourne, said there was competition for spots in the country week side.

"There's a lot of talent in the league but we're back in provincial (the top grade) so it's going to be a step up for us," he said.

"Hopefully everyone puts their hands up and we get the best possible team together and go well."