WHILE some people may take the role of captain on a cricket field for granted, CYMS Cougars' Stuart Naden admits it will be an honour to lead his side out in tonight's McDonald's Megahit match against Christie's Crackerjacks at No. 3 Oval.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Englishman is midway through his second season in Dubbo cricket and after spending last season with RSL Colts he has quickly become a key figure in the Cougars line-up.
The off-spinning all-rounder will step up to the captain's role tonight with regular skipper Ben O'Donnell unavailable and he said his first captaincy experience in Australia would be one to remember.
"It's a big honour because I know a lot of people look at it differently and it's only a Twenty20 but it's a big point of pride for me to go to the other side of the world and lead a side," he said.
"Ben has done a great job so I'll just try to follow in his footsteps and offer a bit of guidance, especially to the young guys like Josh Thompson and Will Graham."
Juniors Graham and Thompson have retained their position in the side after impressing in the Cougars recent Twenty20 loss to the Castlereagh Hornets while second grade captain Darryl Thompson has also received a call-up.
The loss to the Hornets followed a heart-breaking final-ball loss against the Cricketer's Arms Journeyman but Naden believed his side wasn't far off hitting top form, with fielding the biggest issue currently.
"I think in Twenty20 it's all about fielding and all other aspects come after that, we've got a strong bowling attack and I think our batting attack can chase any score," he said.
"Against Colts (Journeymen) we should have won but our fielding let us down and in the second match our fielding hurt us a little bit when we let them get away through the middle stages.
"We've got to get our fielding on track, we've seen glimpses of it but once we do that there's no reason we can't get our Twenty20 form back and start winning matches."
The Crackerjacks, Macquarie's short-form side, and the Cougars are currently midway through their Whitney Cup match with CYMS needing to chase down 312 tomorrow for victory and Naden said a win tonight would be a huge confidence booster leading into tomorrow's 75 overs.
"It's the familiar scene at the moment going up against Macquarie but I think if we can get a win it will give us the confidence for Saturday knowing that we can beat them, we haven't beaten Macquarie yet this season and I think some of the boys really just need to get that winning feeling," he said.Tonight's match begins at 6.30pm.
