Bat In Hand Worth Two Wins For Bush

7 November 2002

AS an apprentice carpenter, Trent Bush is comfortable with a hunk of wood in his hands.

So it is hardly surprising that the classy young Lambton batsman feels at home wielding the willow every weekend.

The 20-year-old right-hander has helped Lambton achieve first-innings wins in their first two games, scoring 86 against Merewether and 66 against Waratah, and is hoping for more runs against Belmont at Harker Oval this weekend.

Lambton and Belmont are equal second after two rounds, behind Hamwicks as the only three unbeaten teams.

In his only other bat this season, Bush scored 36 in Lambton's seven-wicket NRMA Cup win over Central Coast club Kincumber Avoca.

Bush has picked up from where he left off last summer, when he top-scored for Lambton in their semi-final loss to Merewether with a first-grade career highest score of 143.

`That score at the end of last year gave me a lot of confidence, and I suppose I've taken it into this season,' Bush said.

`This is my fourth full season in first-grade, and the morale around the club at the moment is really good.

`We've started pretty well and we want to keep that going.

`Belmont have been the real dark horse of the comp so far, so it should be a good test to see how we're going.'

Having experienced players such as Glenn Grimmond and Brad Bannister as team-mates has helped fast-track his development.

`Brad probably turned my season around last year,' he said. `He picked up something in my technique and gave me some advice about correcting it and it really helped me.'

Bush began with Kotara under-10s and played all his juniors there until he graduated to Lambton's senior grades.

He is the son of former Merewether and Charlestown left-handed opener Ollie Bush, who represented Newcastle in the 1970s and '80s.

Playing for Newcastle against Northern Districts, Ollie was once felled by a bouncer from current Australian Test team manager Steve Bernard but dusted himself off and went on to score a century.

Trent has been training with Newcastle's senior representative squad this season but does not expect to oust any of the experienced senior batsmen when selectors announce their Country Cup team on Monday.

His only representative game last season was for Newcastle in the Colts challenge against Lake Macquarie.


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