HE discovered the sort of form that most batsman dream of last summer, but Bathurst talent Nic Broes feels he has become tactically better with the willow this season.
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It showed at the recent Cricket Australia Under 19 National Championships when he finished 10th on the list of leading run scorers.
Making his debut at that level as part of the ACT-NSW Country outfit, Broes scored 303 runs at an average of 43.3.
Though Broes - who's efforts last season included a St Pat's Old Boys club record 186 in Bathurst District first grade - admitted he started nationals slowly, he soon grew in confidence.
He hit 34 off 48 in game three against Western Australia, and backed that up with an unbeaten 86 at a run-a-ball in a shortened 30-overs match against Tasmania.
Broes then hit 50 against Northern Territory, 43 against Queensland and 55 in the semi-final against eventual title winners NSW Metro.
"To start off with, I had trouble finding my feet early. But after that we had a team meeting and just sort of said to back ourselves and our own ability and it clicked for me from there," he said.
"I started hitting the ball better and feeling good.
"That 86 was probably the highlight, either that or the Western Australia game when I got 35 off 40, that was when I knew I could do it at that level and started to get a bit of confidence in myself and played my shots a bit more than I had in the first couple of games."
Though Broes only managed nine in his side's final match against Victoria Metro, it was a game they won to place third overall.
While Broes and his ACT-NSW Country team-mates had naturally hoped to make the decider and he would have liked to better capitalised on some of his starts, he was still satisfied.
"It was not a bad end, we had a little bit higher hopes but we'll take third I suppose," Broes said.
"I was still pretty disappointed I got to 50 on a couple of occasions and 40 and 30 and couldn't go on and make that 80 plus score - I only did that once.
"So I was a little bit disappointed on that front, but if I had of said I'll take 300 runs going into it, I'd have been happy. So I'll take it, but there's still a lot of work I've got to do personally, it was a fun challenge."
His strike-rate for the tournament was 67.3 and he cracked 27 boundaries, but it was not all about aggression for Broes.
One of his biggest takeaways from the tournament was that he learned more about pacing himself as the game situation dictated.
"It was good learning obviously more tactical awareness and more game awareness from the experience and watching everyone in the team and players from other sides and captains," he said.
"Batting in scenarios is something I think I'm getting better at, it was something I with struggled last year - whether I needed quick runs or to steady up - I think it was all one-paced last year. This year I think I've got a few gears where I can go to and that helps me score when I want a lot more freely."