Matt Corben knows better than to count his chickens before they hatch.
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The Cavaliers captain is currently averaging 132 in the Bathurst and Orange Inter District Cricket competition and is hoping to keep cashing in.
"I think cricket is one of those things where you do the same thing one season and you score lots of runs and you do the same thing next season and you don't score any runs," he said.
"When you're scoring them, enjoy that and when you're not, just hope the team is still winning."
His side also remains undefeated across all competitions and at the top of both the BOIDC ladder and their Royal Hotel Cup group.
But two close victories to start off the new year has shown they are far from invincible
"There's always room for improvement. The last two weeks haven't been our best performances and in some ways we've been lucky to get away with those wins. You don't win titles before Christmas," Corben said.
"As long as you're there or thereabouts with the top five, anyone can win. That's what I've been pushing to the boys, not to rest on what we've done before Christmas because realistically that counts for nothing now. After Christmas is when titles are won."
One thing that has helped Cavs stay unbeaten so far this season is consistency. That has been especially important this year as a string of forced isolations caused by the COVID restrictions has seen dozens of players across clubs and grades to miss time.
"Consistency in that core group is vital in a team doing well, you don't want to be changing eight blokes a week," the captain said.
"The COVID aspect adds another little element in and fortunately enough we've only had two or three players out each week. We haven't had the seven, eight or nine players out which would put a massive hole in our squad."
This Saturday they will take on an Orange City side sitting in fifth place and fighting for a place in the finals.
But Corben knows better than to underestimate the reigning premiers.
"There's always that aspect where every Orange team and every Bathurst team wants to be the best in their town," he said.
"Playing City is always a big challenge, they've got a good line-up and a really good squad of players to call on as well.
"We've got that gap at the top but we don't take any team lightly because as we saw last week, Centennials who are sitting bottom of the table played a really solid game and took us to eight down to get the runs."
Corben was asked if there had been any one player from the other sides who had really impressed him.
His mind immediately went to the skipper of second-place ORC.
"Dave Sellars is having an outstanding year," he added.
"Every time I've played Dave Sellars he looks like he's going to score runs but he somehow doesn't.
"This season it just looks like something has clicked, or maybe it's just that luck turning around, because he is scoring runs and he is one of the players that has stood out to me."
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