Glenbrook cricketer Ryley Smith has been named in the Australian under 16s squad after a top order performance at the School Sport Australia National Championships in February.
The 15-year-old opened the batting for NSW and was the highest run scorer for his team with 304 runs in 6 innings during the week-long tournament in Queensland.
When the squad was announced at the end of the tournament by Cricket Australia's national talent manager Greg Chappell, picked by their Youth Selection Panel in consultation with state and territory talent managers, Ryley was excited. He hadn’t been thinking about selection, he’d been focused on doing well for NSW.
“I went into the competition trying to win the games for my state and perform, and I was happy that we won some games and NSW did really well,” he said.
The 14-member squad will train in Brisbane in September before contesting the Under 17 National Championships. Then they’ll head to Dubai In January to take on Pakistan. “I’m really excited to go to Dubai and to Brisbane for the training and games,” Ryley said.
He’s also pick up the bat again for NSW in the NSW Under 16s State Challenge, to be held over five days in Campbelltown in April.
In between all his cricket commitments, Ryley attends St Columba’s Catholic College and plays junior representative rugby league for the Penrith Panthers; currently competing in the Under 15s Country Championships.