So much so Cavaliers' fearless skipper, who's yet to fail in the first combined competition since the two associations split following the 2006-07 summer, looks well on track to producing a record-breaking season with the bat.

Despite batting substantially fewer times than his nearest rivals Corben will begin the new year well clear on top of the run-scoring stakes, from just four digs so far this summer his 458 runs have come at a whopping average of 114.50.

Centrals' Fletcher Rose (344 at 68.80) while Kinross' Will Luelf (306 at 43.71) is the next best, but the big and telling difference is that the former has batted six times so far this summer and the latter's had eight cracks at the crease.

Corben has pushed so far ahead thanks to his ability to bat long into the day and his numbers reflect that, with those four innings netting two half-centuries and two tons as well, giving Cavaliers' skipper a superb conversion rate too.

It must be noted though, Corben's lowest score was the 89 he scored against Bathurst City in round two, he backed that up with a mammoth 176 against CYMS in round three and scored a superb 92 against City Colts in round four.

Any disappointment he may have felt having fallen short of a ton against City Colts was squashed quickly in the final round before Christmas though, when he belted 101 in the maroons' stunning upset of the previously-undefeated Orange City side.

With that, he became the first player since former Cavaliers, Orange and Mitchell Cricket Council skipper Richie Venner to score two centuries in the opening half of a summer, apt considering he was one of Corben's biggest influences as a youngster.

Venner did that with unbeaten knocks off 222 and 104 in rounds one and four of 2013-14, and no one in the MyCricket era has scored more runs in a single season than the 895 he walloped that summer, which came from 15 innings at an average of 81.4.

He scored two more tons that summer to eclipse the previous best mark of Orange City's Nathan Rosser, who belted 853 runs at 77.55 in the 2009-10 season, incredibly Waratahs' Ray Doolan and Venner both scored more than 700 that summer as well.

Corben can join his former mentor among the MyCricket era's absolute elite or potentially even eclipse his mark if his form continues. By comparison, in his record-breaking season Venner had scored 591 runs at 147.75 by the Christmas break, but he'd also batted three more times than Corben has.

Easier said than done, of course, but with the wickets of Orange and Bathurst seemingly only getting harder, flatter and easier to bat on the stoic Corben looks every chance of scoring the 438 runs he requires to set a new record mark.

With this summer included, his effort has also pushed him within touching distance of the MyCricket era's top three run-scorers. Venner tops that list from Shaun Grenfell and Stuart Middleton and Corben is now just 18 runs shy of the latter in fourth, and has moved more than 500 runs clear of former Orange City skipper Matt Findlay in fifth.

He also appears well on track to add another trophy to his cabinet, he is the reigning Orange District Cricket Association player-of-the-year and is - of course - in the mix among the combined competition's contenders.

Veteran St Pat's Old Boys seamer Matt Fearnley is topping this summer's wicket-taking list alongside Centrals' leg-spinner Matt Ripps, both have taken 17 wickets at 13.76 and 16.71 respectively.

Fearnley's seven-wicket haul against Kinross catapulted him to the top of that list, while Cavaliers' Mitch Black (16 at 18.88), Orange City's Brett Causer (15 at 11.87) and Bathurst City's Harrison Craig (14 at 19.50) round out the top five.