CRICKET
Tour's in safe hands
CRICKET
By: Torrin Chen
Ben Smith is looking forward to dazzling the Carribbean crowds when he dons the gloves for the Australian All
School's under -15's tour of the West Indies later this year.
The 15-year-old from Hinchinbrook secured his first national cap after captaining NSW to victory in the National All
Schools Championships in Queensland.
The Fairfield-Liverpool third grade player is one of this week's Liverpool Leader Junior Sports Star Award Nominees.
"I'm really excited to go to a country (West Indies) like that," Smith said.
"It's one of those things you dream of and it's an honour to represent your country and I'm just rapt about playing
with the top 15-year-olds in Australia."
In April, Smith was the youngest player in the under-19s NSW High Performance Development Team to tour India.
He recently won selection in the under-17's City Squad for the upcoming 2008/09 season.
The Year 10 Westfields Sports High School student has been a member of the Cricket NSW Emerging Blues squad since he
was 12.
An athletic wicket-keeper and free-flowing, top order batsman, Smoith is keen to follow in the footsteps of former
Australia wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist.
"My main goal is to play for Australia at the Open level," Smith said. "If I don't play for Australia, then I'd be
happy to play for NSW."
Smith said he enjoyed captaining the NSW under-15's side at the national schools championships.
"It was easy being the captain with the kind of guys in the team as they knew what was expected of them," he said.
"They're a pretty good team and it wasn't a hard job."
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