Following a terrific campaign with Victoria at the 2022 over-75 national championships on the Gold Coast, Wright was selected for the Australian squad to travel to New Zealand to compete in the Trans-Tasman Challenge in May.
But taking on the Kiwis’ was not a straightforward affair, with the short timeframe of competition meaning preparation had been minimal, and with just one practice match in Auckland prior to competition, the team was very unfamiliar.
“We were trying to get patterns of play going and everything else,” Wright said.
“Normally when I’ve been away with Australian sides, we’ve been able to have practice matches prior to going.
“This time they delayed the announcement of the Australian 75s team, because they weren’t sure whether it was going to be incorporated into the Trans-Tasman Challenge, because we were the inaugural 75s team.”
A 3-0 scoreline in Australia’s favour in the first of three games betrayed just how tight of an affair the match was, said Wright, although 8-0 and 7-0 victories in games two and three showed the class of the visiting side who completed a clean sweep of the series.
“It was pretty convincing really,” Wright said.
“Unfortunately, (it went) well for us but not for them, but we went out to dinner with them and had a fantastic night with the New Zealand 75s side, so that was really good.”
Wright has also been in action for the Big V, recently returning from a successful trip to Western Australia in the inaugural over-80 national championship earlier this month.
A three-team competition, Wright and Victoria played against Western Australia and a Western Australia Country side, with a great contest unfolding in the round robin format.
Playing each side twice, Victoria beat WAC on both occasions, and despite losing to the WA side twice, advanced to play them in the grand final.
A tough and tense affair led to a 1-1 draw at full time, and progressing to penalty strokes, Victoria managed to get the upper hand to win 4-3 in the shootout to be crowned inaugural over-80 national champions.
“It was very pleasing to come home (from) an inaugural competition with the gold medal, which is even better than a silver,” Wright said, having been named best-on in the final two round robin games.
With another superb year under his belt, Wright is continuing to look towards representing Australia in further competition, with a possible European trip on the horizon.
“At this stage it is possibly mooted that we will maybe going to The Hague in Holland to play a competition there, which I think is a 10-year reunion of the World Championships,” he said.
“I was in the Australian team (10 years ago), and unfortunately we came away with the bronze there, and I was a bit annoyed actually.”
