Brown will make his captaincy debut in the absence of Josh Toole, who is in Wagga Wagga with the Western Zone side, along with star all-rounder Aaron Seymour.

Their absence makes the Ox-Cents outfit look a little short of match-winning power, but Brown doesn’t want to take a step back in the face of the competition’s biggest challenge.

Helping his cause will be the fact that he is in good form himself with the bat, having had scores of 48, 22 and 21 in his past three innings.

More importantly, in two of those efforts he has been part of century stands with Toole.

Not having the regular skipper and opening partner at the other end leaves a gap, but the stand-in captain says he has confidence his side can get the job done and he can turn one of his starts into a big score.

“I’ve been pretty happy with how I’ve hit it so far, certainly better than I did last season anyway,” he said.

“I think I’m starting to back myself a bit more, and that probably comes with batting up the other end from ‘Tooley,’ and seeing his aggression and approach. I’ve been a bit more positive with my own batting as a result.

“It will be a bit strange on the field this week to not have he and ‘Billy’ [Seymour] out there and to be one of the most experienced players in the side, but it is definitely a good challenge and one I’m looking forward to.”

Brown is the epitome of a quiet achiever when it comes to his cricket.

His figures don’t really do justice to what he brings to his side – a steady approach against the new ball, rock solid defence, and a good team ethic.

His partnership with Toole, to draw an international parallel, is similar to the one India brought to Australia a decade ago when Aakash Chopra played the straight man to Virender Sehwag’s blazing off-side assault.

Chopra’s numbers didn’t leap off the page, but the pair combined perfectly with their combination of accumulation and all-out attack.

The aggressive approach may have to be tempered a bit without the regular skipper in action, but Brown doesn’t want his side to go too far into their shell.

“We probably have to still be pretty aggressive. Josh Kitchner will open with me and we need to make a big score,” he said.

“Redbacks bat down to number 11, and pretty much all of them can bowl as well so you have to look to score to try and put them under pressure or you are no chance.

“I’m not the only guy out there with a fair bit of experience. Jamie Wicks has played for years and so has Craig Windus, so we’ll be relying pretty heavily on them too.

“Blake Lawson will come into the side for his first match in the top grade. It would be good to see him and a few of the other new guys like Josh [Kitchner] and Jem Nash do well.”

OXFORD CENTENNIALS: Andrew Brown (c), Josh Kitchner, Jem Nash, Jamie Wicks, Blake Lawson, Craig Windus, Troy Kenny, Ricky Daymond, Pawan Saini, Jared Bosianek, Tom Loader

CRICKET: On paper, today’s match between Bathurst City and Oxford Centennials looks like one in which the competition leaders should be hot favourites.

City will be fielding their best possible XI, while Ox-Cents will be without their two best players Josh Toole and Aaron Seymour, who are on duty with the Western Zone side at the Country Championships in Wagga Wagga.

Redbacks captain Matt Willis is taking nothing for granted, but says he wants to see a performance from his players that shows no complacency or laziness.

“Sometimes when you go into a game like this, knowing that two of the biggest obstacles in the other side won’t be there, you get ahead of yourself and start thinking about experimenting or just not respecting the opposition properly,” he said.

“Of course, things will be a bit harder for Ox-Cents without those two guys; take ‘Tooley’ and ‘Billy’ out of any side and it leaves a massive gap.

“But you can point to a few of their guys that still offer a fair bit. Craig Windus has only had a couple of chances back in first grade this season and hasn’t really fired yet. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if he came out and flogged a big score.

“Andrew Brown has made a great start to the season and he just keeps things very calm at the top of the order. Jamie Wicks is a very underrated bowler and just goes about his business every week.”

One of the things Willis said his team needed to do at the start of the season was to make sure they weren’t falling across the line, as they had done a handful of times last summer.

They have lived up to that in their two completed games, chasing a couple of scores down with plenty of wickets in hand and being relatively clinical.

Despite the interrupted momentum courtesy of the rain, he would love to see that continue.

BATHURST CITY: Matt Willis (c), Ben Orme, Adam Orme, John Rudge, Shabbir Dhamani, Jarrod Urza, Greg Adams, Joey Coughlan, Trent Hemsworth, Kirby Earle, Matt Lawson