Armed with a hand-me-down bat and helmet, Karene Cosgrove’s seven-year-old son Oliver was ready to tackle the cricket pitch.

With the nearest junior competition 180 kilometres each way, however, it was time to revive Warren’s local junior cricket. 

While forming sporting clubs is no easy feat, overnight Karene had rallied 12 volunteers to deliver a ‘Cricket Blast’ program, delivering six weeks of cricket skills workshops. 

A total of 34 children aged 5-10 registered for the program, after local students’ interests were piqued by a four-week long sporting program earlier in the year. 

“There’s heaps of sports available in Warren for kids and adults as well, but in Summer it’s really just swimming,” Karene said. 

During the first two weeks, Cricket NSW’s Matt Ellis helped to freshen up the parents and volunteers skills in leading the program. 

Andrew Dickson, Luke Cosgrove, Simon Fisher, Ben Storer and Andy McCalman are all ready to help their kids. (Supplied)

With the first completely volunteer-led week out of the way, they can safely say it’s been a success.

While the Cricket Blast program is limited in what ages can play, Karene is hoping it will gather interest in creating something bigger in the years to come. 

“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to have something in the school holidays for older kids as well, because there’s nothing for 11, 12, 13 year-olds.”

“After school goes back, we’ll just see who’s available and age groups that are keen.”

“There’s no coach as such in Warren, so it all depends on parents and volunteers…the community has really got around it.”