The Riverina team finished the carnival on a winning note with a 49-run win over Greater Illawarra.

Unfortunately it was not enough to move them off the bottom of the southern pool, with a poor net run rate ensuring Greater Illawarra maintained third position. Western was only a point ahead, with ACT Southern Districts to meet Newcastle in next Sunday's final after going through the pool rounds undefeated.

Starr went through the three-day carnival wicketless, with combined figures of 0-40 from 9.3 overs, but made some handy contributions with the bat, averaging 22.

The 22-year-old was the only Cricket Wagga representative in the Riverina team and took a lot away from the experience.

"It was good, obviously just playing for a different group of blokes," Starr said.

"Especially being the only one from Wagga, I didn't really know any of them before going away so it was good, just that different dynamic of playing with different blokes, different skill sets.

"I've played NSW 19s and 17s before and this was good. It was different, playing against different blokes and playing against men, they know their game a lot better than a 20-year-old. They know their game inside and out, which was another good challenge."

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The Kooringal Colts talent had mixed feelings about his contributions over the three days.

"Yes and no," Starr replied when asked if he was happy with his efforts.

"It's the same thing each week. I'd get a start and then get myself out with a stupid shot.

"With the ball, I just wasn't consistent enough to get the overs in that I would have liked which was due to poor execution. The times I had to come in and bowl, I wasn't keeping the pressure on when we needed to, so it was fair enough. You don't really give the captain much choice in those situations."

Starr made scores of 18, 35 and 13 with the bat. It was his 35 off 61 against Western on Saturday, Riverina's top score in their total of 96, that he was proudest of.

"Day two, I thought I batted really well. It was probably the most patient innings I've ever had," he said.

"Same thing though, the way I got out was a little bit frustrating."

Starr, also a talented rugby league player with Temora, will now return to Colts and try and help them force their way into the top four, with just three rounds remaining.

"We've set ourselves up again like we did last year when we had to do it the hard way to make finals," he said.

"The last couple of weeks we've had results go our way, which is good. I'm hoping we get a win this weekend which is going to be a tough game against South Wagga.

"We've got South Wagga and Wagga City and we definitely need to win one of them, and then we've got Lake Albert, and we definitely need to beat them to be able to jump then.

"We've still got a bit to play for but the draw probably isn't in our favour."

Meantime, Wagga junior Hugh Le Lievre was part of Western's campaign and took four wickets over the three days at an average of eight.

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