Ahead of the looming summer, new Orange skipper Ed Morrish is champing at the bit to lead the Bluebaggers into their new era alongside Matt Corben.
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Morrish was named Orange skipper on Friday afternoon after leading Orange City a second straight Orange District Cricket Association premiership last summer, with Cavaliers captain Corben elected his deputy.
The Warriors' mentor will replace Daryl Kennewell, who stepped down following a promising campaign last year in which Orange won the Mitchell Cricket Council Twenty20 Cup and went within reach of the Western Zone Premier League and President's Cup titles.
I'm really looking forward to working with Corbs, he's a really good captain and he's got plenty of experience.
- New Orange skipper Ed Morrish
"I threw my hat in the ring but honestly I hadn't thought about it until [ODCA president Mark Frecklington] told me on Friday. I'm excited, it's a job I definitely want to do and I'm really looking forward to the challenge," Morrish said.
"I'm really looking forward to working with Corbs, he's a really good captain and he's got plenty of experience so it'll be good to have him in that vice-captain role.
"Being a wicketkeeper-bat, and a smart one too, he obviously views the game a little different to what I probably do but that's a good thing, it'll give us a different dynamic, hopefully allow us to bounce ideas off each other and keep us in good stead.
"Corbs won cricketer-of-the-year last summer and scored a mountain of runs too, he's probably the best cricketer in Orange at the moment so we'll definitely be looking to him to lead from the front in terms of performance as well."
While Morrish admitted he and Corben haven't sat down to set out specific goals just yet, he confirmed they will have one very simple one.
"Win," Morrish said.
"Once we've thought about it a bit more we'll definitely target certain competitions and even potentially specific games, but in really simple terms we just want to win, and win as much as possible.
"Daryl and the captains before him had a tough job rebuilding the side and that's still probably a work in progress, so we want to continue the good work they've done and keep building the team up, but you always want to win every game you play."
Easier said than done, of course, and like so many other years consistency will be a key focus for the Bluebaggers, as much in selection as performance.
"It's been pretty rare to get the same side on the paddock game-to-game the last few seasons and we'd love to work towards that, but there's obviously outside factors involved. We'd love to see everyone in Orange stick their hands up and be available too," Morrish said.
"It's important in terms of performance, consistency. We've been up and down and when you look at the best sides in the region like Bathurst, Dubbo, Parkes when they were at their best and even Orange when we went through our really strong period, consistency is what gets those sides over the line."
Orange will host Bathurst in the opening round of the Premier League on Saturday, October 12 at Wade Park.
While the President's Cup draw is yet to be confirmed the clash is expected to double up as a season-opening rematch of last year's final. Bathurst won that to claim their ninth consecutive triumph.
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