AFTER a year away from ORC Hamish Siegert is hoping to take the lessons he's learned with St Pat's Old Boys into the Tigers' anticipated return to Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket.
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Siegert, 17, is among a stack of new inclusions to the ORC ranks for the upcoming 2021-22 season although it's more of a homecoming for him.
Keen to keep playing cricket at the highest level possible, Siegert jumped across to the Saints for one season in order to keep his skills sharp and await the Tigers' return, whenever that would be.
"I feel good coming back. I've known them through my junior years so it's great to see some familiar faces," he said.
"I've grown up with a lot of them and I'm looking forward to a fun season."
Siegert was quick to thank St Pat's for being so welcoming.
"My family was with Pat's before I started my cricket so it always felt like a second home," he said.
"I had an awesome year with them and learned a lot. I always said all along that if ORC ever came back [to BOIDC] that I would head back there, and now they have."
Siegert had limited opportunities with the bat during the 2020-21 season but he came to the fore in the grand final against Orange City where he hit a season high of 46 runs.
He rejoins an ORC team stacked with young talent, particuarly in the bowling ranks, and coming into the new era of BOIDC fresh of a Bathurst District Cricket Association second grade premiership.
While he hasn't had the chance to train with the team, Siegert believes being the new side on the scene they're likely to feel a little less pressure to make an immediate impact on the competition, but he's still hopeful that they can hit the ground running.
"I think it will be a tough season since there are quite a few younger guys in the team," he said.
"As a club we've always had that hunger to win and I think being a younger team can sometimes be a bit of an advantage there. Hopefully we can just enjoy our cricket and that will help the results come our way.
"I haven't got any personal goals in mind but for team goals I'm sure we'll go in still with high hopes to try and get the ball rolling.
"Anything is possible so we're definitely not going in there looking to be taken lightly."
Ethan Muller, Hugh Parsons and Ben Cant are also among the younger recruits to the Tigers for the new season.
The draw is still yet to be released as organisers await news on when they can safely start the new season coming out of the COVID-19 lockdown.
ORC were one of the most successful Bathurst-based clubs during the previous iteration of the BOIDC, which ran from 1992-93 to 2006-07.
The Tigers won three titles over that span, within the space of four years.
When ORC makes their return to the competition they will look to add to those 1996-97, 97-98 and 99-00 premierships.
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