April 5, 2019
A bunch of South Burnett cricketers packed their bags and headed west from Kingaroy on Friday morning for an end-of-season tour with a difference.
The Wooroolin Warriors B Graders and Devils A Graders packed into a coach headed for the drought-stricken town of Thallon, south of St George.
The cricketers decided to head there after seeing the town’s team featured on the ABC TV show “Back Roads”.
“A photo of the Thallon sports ground was placed on our club’s social media page,” club vice-president Trevor Hansen said.
Under the photo were the following words: “Have found a venue for a pre-season or end-of-season game … little bit of a drive but the people out here are great, and could do with some of our cricketers visiting to help boost the economy. Bit rougher than the outfield at Lyle Vidler Oval in Kingaroy, though!”
“With a good number of our players interested in this type of trip, rather than the usual beach-style trip, planning started,” Trevor said.
He hoped the trip would put some money into the local businesses in St George and Thallon, and a donation would be made to the Thallon Progress Association.
A busload of players left the Kingaroy Cricket Club in Youngman Street about 8:30am.
They planned to pick up a few more along the way before heading via Dalby to St George, where they plan to spend the night.
On Saturday, they head off to Thallon where they’re due to start a 40-over game against the local side at 10:00am.
They’ll be heading back to Kingaroy on Sunday, via Nindigully and St George, after checking out the famous painted silos in Thallon.
The Warriors have sent a formidable squad to take on Thallon: Keiran Askin, Mitchell Clark, Paul Clegg, Matt Dugdell, Trevor Hansen, David Hartwig, Tyler Heness, Taylor Herrmann, Jack Hourn, Stewart Lavaring, Matt Patroni, Jeff Rose, Luke Smith and Hayden Wieck.
