Former Rovers United Bruck captain Paddy McNamara is making the most of his move to Cricket Albury Wodonga, with the left-arm quick fresh off representing NSW in the Australian Country Cricket Championships.

Held in Busselton, WA, from 3-10 January, McNamara and the Blues took on the best country cricketers from across the nation, finishing third overall after the weeklong competition five five wins and four losses.

The title was taken out by Queensland, who finished with a perfect 9-0 record, with Victoria rounding out the podium with their 7-2 standing.

McNamara earned his spot in the state set-up after a stunning first half of his freshman season with CAW side Wodonga, taking 21 poles at 14.38 from 10 innings for the Bulldogs in the first grade competition, and 10 wickets at 12.50 for the Riverina representative squad in the NSW Country Championships.

McNamara said he never expected to be selected for representative honours.

“It was a great experience, it all came on pretty quickly, I didn’t know too much about it,” he said.

“I got selected for the Riverina squad at the end of November, played in that carnival and did alright, and that led to getting picked for the NSW side, which was pretty exciting.

“It was a pretty tough week, I had a couple of rest days but we played eight or so games in eight days, so it was pretty tough on the body.

“It was more about testing myself at a better level, and it was a great experience nonetheless.”

The competition was fierce, with McNamara opening the bowling against the best and most aggressive opening batters in country cricket.

It was a slog, with McNamara ending the carnival with six wickets at 36.67, with best bowling figures of 4/55 against South Australia.

“I feel like in country cricket, most opening batters are looking to bat for 30 overs, whereas these batters, their pure objective was to try and score 60+ runs off the power play with the field up,” he said.

“It was tough as an opening bowler to have a good economy rate, you get tapped for a fair few boundaries.

“The first day, I was copping a fair bit of tap from a young fella, he broke his bat and they ran out like four Kookaburras to him, and I walked past the umpire and the umpire said to the non-striker ‘I wonder if his uncle supplied those Kookaburras’, and I wondered who his uncle is - I found out a couple of overs later that his uncle was Ricky Ponting, and he ended up making 107 [off 114 balls].

“The batters were always looking to score or score boundaries, it really opened my eyes a bit to the level you’ve got to be at to be able to perform in that setting.

“It’s definitely given me a good eye-opener to get better and improve, and what it takes to do well at that level.”

McNamara will resume his CAW first grade season this Saturday, with his Wodonga Bulldogs sitting third overall.