At his peak Stinson rated with the quickest of bowlers to ply their trade in Manning cricket. Wingham captain Matt Essery said age hasn’t dimmed his speed too much.

“He was bowling pretty fast at training,’’ Essery said.

Essery confirmed Stinson will share the new ball with the in-form Ryan Williams, with Steve Allwood the first change.

Stinson was due to make his comeback with Wingham last weekend against Old Bar. However, rain put an end to those plans. He is a definite starter tomorrow, providing all’s well with the weather.

Essery revealed that Stinson expects to play enough games to qualify for the semi-finals.

“He’s a NSW Country rep and he’s played against some quality cricketers in his time,’’ Essery said.

“We’re happy to have him.’’

Stinson is employed in the mines, with the majority of his shifts on weekends.

“He’s taken holidays and long service leave to play with us, so he’s pretty keen,’’ Essery said.

United will be without Ryan Morris tomorrow. Essery isn’t sure whether to run with an experienced player or a promising youngster in his absence. He’s leaning to youth, with his son, Hayden, or Josh McTaggatt in line for selection.

UNITED will target Wingham batsman Ben Scowen in tomorrow’s Manning first grade cricket clash at Wingham.

Skipper Ricky Campbell said Scowen will be the prize scalp. Scowen’s brutal innings of 87 turned the opening round clash between between the sides in Wingham’s favour.

“I’m hoping we can get rid of the new bloke (Scowen) pretty early and then have a crack at their middle order,’’ Campbell said.

Campbell reasons that Wingham’s middle order haven’t seen much time in the middle this year and he’s confident his bowlers will be able to cash in if they make an early breakthrough.

United will be at full strength for the clash.

He sent Wingham into bat when the teams last met and watched his bowlers punished by Scowen. Campbell won’t be doing that if he wins the toss tomorrow.

“”It should be a good deck up there like it usually is,’’ Campbell said.

“We’ll bat for sure and hopefully get some runs on the board.’’

Campbell said seeing the dangerous Ryan Williams off will then a priority. His five wicket haul stymied United’s run chase in the last clash.

OLD Bar captain Blake Polson said speculation that his youthful side is already out of contention for a playoff berth in Manning first grade cricket is premature.

Three sides will contest the end-of-season games and there has been conjecture that Old Bar will be the team to miss out, based on their travails in the opening two fixtures.

However, Polson pointed out there’s plenty of cricket left yet.

“We’ve only played two games,’’ he said.

Polson remains confident that Old Bar will improve as their host of young players become first grade hardened.

“And we have Dave Rees and Ben Cole who are two of the best players in the comp,’’ he added.

Polson agrees that Old Bar can’t afford to give the other sides too much start in the race to the playoffs.

“But you can fill up your boots with bonus points later (in the two day matches),’’ he said,

Old Bar meet Taree West at Old Bar tomorrow. The West took the game away from Old Bar in the opening 20 overs in first time they met this year when Ben Marron bludgeoned the rookie attack.

Polson is confident his bowlers learnt a lesson that day. He believes Marron and all-rounder Sean Carr present the biggest hurdles to his side causing an upset.

Polson said the wicket will be good for batting tomorrow.