HE was Bathurst City's best performer with the bat in last season's Royal Hotel Cup, but come Friday night Mark Day will be looking to do more than than just fire in the top order for Redbacks.
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Day will also be looking to lead the way as captain.
While regular skipper Joey Coughlan will still line up in the Twenty20 match against Molong, given he had been busy with work in the build up and had no time to plan he decided to hand over the captaincy to Day.
"It's the first time for Redbacks I get to lead the boys, so I'm looking forward to it," Day said.
"At the moment I'm excited but I'll probably be a bit nervous come Friday. I've done it [captain] a little bit before in the junior ranks, but it's the first time in first grade, so I'll see how I go.
"It's great Joey is going to be there as well, I've been his VC for first grade this year so having him there for my first run is going to be great, I can fall back on him and listen to what he has to say."
Last season Day hit 109 runs at an average of 36.33 and a strike rate of 107.9 for Redbacks in the cup.
His efforts included a 56 off 43 deliveries against Lithgow, but Day feels that was one of his biggest disappointments. He thinks that knock could have been better and cost Redbacks a spot in the finals on nett run rate.
"It stung a lot last year, but I sort of only can blame myself. We lost that game against Lithgow, I got 50, did all the hard work but then got out with five to go and we sort of collapsed," he said.
"If we had of won that game nett run rate wouldn't have made a difference, so I think winning is the number one thing for us on Friday and depending on the game situation, we'll see about the nett run rate."
Day blaming himself for Redbacks missing the finals is certainly harsh, especially given the hard work he has done to improve his performances in the short format.
His efforts were acknowledged by being invited to trial for the Central West Wranglers Regional Bash squad and though not making the side which was knocked out of the Twenty20 tournament last Sunday, he learned from the experience.
"I wouldn't say it's my strength this format, but it's something I have definitely put a lot of work into and got the numbers on the board last year. It was good to get invited to the Western Wranglers trial this year," he said.
"It had the best cricketers from around the area so it was good to see how they go about T20, especially some of the older heads who did make that Wranglers squad."
When it comes to Redbacks' clash with Molong, Day admits he knows little about his rivals but will prepare himself for plenty of different scenarios.
"They are a complete unknown Molong. They should have a couple of handy cricketers I'm assuming and it will be good to see what they have," he said.
"You can make predictions about anything but it's all about the game situation and trying to be an over or two ahead of the game and hopefully things go to plan, but you've got to have plans A through to D in T20 cricket."
