It’s been a long time since Orange City all-rounder Shaun Grenfell donned the baggy blue cap of Orange.
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A very long time.
So long in fact, he can’t even remember what year it was.
“I couldn’t tell you exactly what season it was, I’m fairly certain the last time I played was a President’s Cup weekend though,” he laughed.
He’s back though, after accepting the offer to line-up in the Bluebaggers’ Mitchell Cricket Council Twenty20 Cup clash against the Blue Mountains on Sunday.
He was set to take the field in Friday’s competition-opener against Bathurst at Wade Park too, but that was postponed thanks to the Beach Boys concert’s set-up.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Grenfell said.
“So much of the time I didn’t play representative cricket wasn’t because I didn’t want to, it was because I couldn’t for various reasons, so it’s nice to be able to come back into the side.”
He knows nothing about the Cattle Dogs though.
“How would I? I think that side might have changed a bit since I last played,” Grenfell laughed.
“They’ll no doubt be a strong side, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the T20 stuff. I know Orange has struggled for a little while in the 50-over competitions, so the shorter format might really suit us.”
It suits Grenfell, anyway.
Skippering Orange City in the Royal Hotel Cup – his first opportunity to lead the Warriors full-time – he’s inspired the side to two wins from three preliminary games, starring with the bat against Centrals. He whacked a quick-fire 47 in that game.
Since the Royal Hotel Cup changed to T20 cricket in 2012-13, Grenfell has plundered 469 runs at an average of almost 30. Not bad numbers for a bloke who’d only played three games of the shortest format prior to that.
Grenfell will be joined in the Bluebaggers side by four fellow Warriors in Boundy, Josh Cheney, Jackson Coote and Matt Findlay, while Centrals has four representatives – skipper Daryl Kennewell, Dean Turner, Charlie Mortimer and Zac Reimer.
In-form belter Nathan Gander has been plucked from Wanderers’ third grade side – a reward for his form in the lower grade T20s – while Cavaliers skipper Matt Corben rounds out the squad.
“It looks very much a T20 sort of side,” Grenfell said.
“Nathan Gander, I’ve heard, has been scoring hundreds in the lower grade T20 competitions so it’s great to see him there. I’m not sure where our strength lies, there’d be arguments for it being with the bat and the ball.
“The biggest thing in T20 cricket is the basics, doing them well. If we do that, particularly take our catches, I think we’ll be pretty tough to beat.”
Sunday’s game starts at 10am, it’s expected to be at Bathurst Sportsground.
ORANGE: Daryl Kennewell ©, Dean Turner, Dave Boundy, Matt Corben, Shaun Grenfell, Nathan Gander, Charlie Mortimer, Matt Findlay, Jackson Coote, Josh Cheney, Zac Reimer, Scott Kennedy.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
