john hastings is certainly destined for bigger and better things. i played alongside of him in his very first match (also happened to be my first ever match) for the st.joseph's cricket club here in penrith back in the 93/94 season, under 9's .he couldnt bat, couldnt bowl either. his dad was coach. he stayed back a year as he played a year above for that inital season and boy didnt he improve out of sight! he became a hard hitting opening batsman and a very quick opening bowler. made the junior rep side for penrith, got to about the under 14's, got told he wasnt good enough for the first rep side, so he got dropped to the 2nd side, absolutley killed them! averaged about 130 with the bat. he then got back into the first rep. side for penrith the next season and has been on the rise ever since. he then tried out for grade with hawkesbury and then has been going up the ranks. was a thrill to see him in the paper's every week doing heaps well. it was an even bigger thrill to see him touted by geoff lawson as a fast bowler with a bucket loads of potential. it was also great to see him on sports tonight getting interviewed for his scholarship with rexona. all i can say is, he's come a long way from being a disruptive lad who was always mucking around at training. he hope he does play for NSW and then australia one day. he truly deserves it.
also ahillen beadle (thats the proper spelling) is also a player with great potential. he's a fantastic lad and a great player. he should go to another club, because penrith have a history of stuffing up young players with great potential (just look at nathan bracken, greg hunt, who was the aussie under 19's captain and also glenn mcgrath who they told wasnt good enough when he tried out for them a long time ago) you see a lot of penrith juniors now playing for hawkesbury,blacktown and bankstown.
also other young players to watch out for whom ive played with and against at junior level are stephen o'keefe, gavin atkin and a young lad called simon keen.