WHEN their opener forgot his hat on the first day of the 2019-20 Bathurst District Cricket Association second grade season it may have seemed like a bad omen for the Centennials Bulls, but it the end it turned out to be a fortuitous mistake.
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The man given the job of replacing that opener - 18-year-old Andrew Kreuzberger - went on to blast 162 runs and put the Bulls into the box seat against Rugby Union.
Given it was not only Kreuzberger's second grade debut but that he had averaged just 32 runs last season, he was certainly an unlikely hero.
By the time he was caught out on the boundary at Morse Park 2 in the 48th over - Kreuzberger the fourth Bulls batsman to fall - his side had amassed 306 runs.
They declared and in the time remaining before stumps in the two-day match, reduced their rivals to 7-100.
No doubt all the Bulls were thankful for the forgotten hat - certainly Kreuzberger was as he belted the best score of his cricketing career.
"Back in presidents cup I batted all over the place, I didn't have the best bat in presidents cup the last few years, I hit one 70, a 60 and the rest were in the teens," he said.
"So to come in for my debut in second grade and hit 162 - I was pretty happy with it and everyone else was pretty happy with it.
"Our opener forgot his hat and had to go home and pick it up. So our captain, Jamie Wicks, he asked me 'Do you want to open?'. I said 'Yeah, if I have to I suppose.'
"I was a little bit nervous about it, I was thinking I might not put on a good impression here for my first game, but in the end it turned out alright."
Before he walked out to the crease, Kreuzberger chatted to his brother Blake, who predicted a knock of around 30. It was a score he would have taken, but he went on to do much better.
"I thought that considering my efforts in presidents cup that 30 wouldn't be too bad, I'd take that," Kreuzberger said.
"I was keeping track of the score in my head, and when I got to 40 I thought 'Jeez, I'm right here'. When I got to 50 I thought 'Yeah, this is pretty good' and I waved my bat.
"All of a sudden one of the boys got out and another guy came out and he said to me to keep my head down because I was very close to 100. He told me not to do anything stupid, so I thought I'd try to play it calm as I was four or so runs off the 100.
"But then I thought I'd play a big shot and skied it, but the bowler dropped it. Still when I hit the hundred it sort of sunk in what I'd done, I was pretty happy with myself, everyone was giving me a hand shake. It was very special."
Prior to that dropped catch which saw Kreuzberger notch up his century, he'd given one other half chance when edging through the slips when sitting around 40 runs.
Other than that his knock was electric, he and fellow opener Dennis Callan (61) having put on a century-opening stand.
Kreuzberger finally fell as he attempted to belt a six, but he was more than satisfied with his 162.
"I was getting pretty tired and I had a bit of a blister coming on on my foot from running as well. So I was disappointed, but not that disappointed because I was pretty sore at the time as well," he said.
"The captain was like to me 'I think you've pretty much secured your spot in the opener position now'. But hitting 162, that's a bit of a confidence booster, so I don't feel too bad about the opening position, I'll take that."
Kreuzberger finished the day with one more highlight - taking a return catch off his own medium pace bowling.
The talented teen hopes he and his fellow Bulls can now go on and claim an outright win this Saturday when the two-dayer resumes.
"We ripped into them for the 25-30 overs we bowled at them, our opening bowler [Rowan Ross] took four wickets," he said.
"I had a headache coming on and everything so I wasn't too sure about bowling. But I did it anyway, put it behind me, and ended up getting a catch straight back at me.
"We'll try to get them out as quick as possible and I'd say we'll send them straight back in. If they hit more than 306, then we'll chase it down and get the bonus points - it wouldn't be a bad way to start the first round."
