Bailey Edmunds and Western Zone will play their NSW Country Championship matches this weekend

Edmunds will be part of Western's quest for another NSW Country Championships title will begin on Friday afternoon when the side hosts Central Coast at Orange's Wade Park in a day-night fixture.

The CYMS quick has been on the selectors' minds for several seasons now but said it was an honour to finally receive the call to play.

"It means a fair bit, I've been trying for the last couple of years," he said.

"My name has been floating around but I finally got the tick this year.

"It just means I've been doing the right couple of things over the last few years on the field and hopefully I can keep progressing to do it for Western on the field."

Edmunds is one of several first-time selections in the squad with Cooper Brien, Ben Knaggs, Lachlan Strachan and Lachlan Skelly also picked for the first time.

The six new players has Edmunds and the rest of the group excited to see what they can do.

"I think from the vibe and the young group we've got that it is going to look good," he said.

"It's a bit of a different level for some of us but I think we will thrive on it."

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Being captained by Knaggs at a club level, Edmunds has played a lot of cricket with his fellow quick and said it is going to be special to take the field alongside him playing for Western.

"It's good, I've played a lot of cricket with 'Knaggsy' (Knaggs), we will just try and go from there," he said.

One of several pace bowlers in the squad, Edmunds admitted he hasn't had much contact with new coach Andrew Zell about what he is role will be but said he will find out pretty quickly.

"I haven't really had a chat with him just yet, I think he will have a talk to us once we get down there," he said.

Western will open their campaign against Central Coast on Friday before going on to play ACT and Riverina.

Even though he is solely focused on the Central Coast fixture, Edmunds believes Western's toughest match will come against a regular foe.

"I probably think ACT, they look fairly strong and from what I've heard they are always strong," he said.

"With us being a young group I think we can go pretty well."

ACT has beaten Western in their last few encounters, including last season in what was a quite one-sided affair.

As well as Edmunds, Knaggs and Strachan, RSL Whitney Cup regulars Marty Jeffrey and Ben Wheeler are also in the squad as is Gilgandra's Matt Everett.

Jeffrey will captain Western for the first time while Wheeler will enter the tournament in unbelievable form.

Opening the batting for Rugby this season, Wheeler has hit two centuries in four matches while also playing a key part in Dubbo's Western Zone Premier League win over Orange earlier this month.

All matches across the three days will be live-streamed via NSW Country Cricket's Facebook page.

Western's match against Central Coast will begin at 1:30pm.

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