NIC Broes admits he did not have the best build up for the new cricket season, but playing with his former St Pat's Old Boys team-mates has reignited his passion for the summer ahead.
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Broes, who now plays club games in ACT Premier Cricket for Western District, was in Bathurst for the weekend and decided to line up for the Saints in Friday night's Royal Hotel Cup match.
It was the first time he'd padded up for the Saints since the 2018-19 grand final win, but they were certainly glad to have him in the Twenty 20 match against City Colts.
He open the batting with Andrew Brown and put on 54 for the first wicket, Broes going on to hit 61 off 49 deliveries. He then claimed 3-12 off his four overs of spin to help the Saints to victory.
"I thought I might have game while I'm down here catching up with family, have a run around with some mates again and enjoyed it," Broes said.
"I think the deck was pretty flat so it wasn't too tough going, but when you think about it, it's still early in the season and a lot of people wouldn't have had much training under their belt, especially fielding wise.
"So we knew that if we hit it into the deep we'd test all their fielding and turn those ones into twos and Browny ran well as well.
"It's very different now to when I last played, but it was nice to play with some of those guys and some of the younger kids coming up. The club's in good stead because they've got a lot of solid juniors, it will be a very competitive first grade side this season for Pat's."
Friday night's knock is a good sign as Broes thinks ahead to a Plan B Regional Bash campaign with the ACT Aces. But more importantly, it had him enjoying his cricket again.
The talented all-rounder said that even though he made a solid 42 off 63 deliveries in his season-opener for Western a week earlier - a knock that included 69-run opening stand with fellow Bathurst talent Blake Dean - he is only now excited about what lies ahead.
"I had a bit of an up and down pre-season with some health issues, so I feel a bit still behind the eight-ball, so it was nice to get a start in that game, especially where my mind-space was at the time, I wasn't that into the game," he said.
"But I think possibly Friday night might have been a wake up call for me to enjoy my cricket again and get back into it.
"I'm very keen for the season and there's still going to be a lot of rep stuff for me, so it's going to be very fun. I'm extremely keen for the rest of the year now."
