![OUT OF THE WILDERNESS: Brendon Matthews will lead Quirindi in its return to the Connolly Cup. Photo: Samantha Newsam OUT OF THE WILDERNESS: Brendon Matthews will lead Quirindi in its return to the Connolly Cup. Photo: Samantha Newsam](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/C4JUxUgBmizGtYQDYd7B2f/c29fe265-1c7b-42db-98c5-de2fbbcfe289.jpg/r936_836_2680_1799_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
AFTER many years in the wilderness, one of the region's proudest cricket communities is set to return to the representative scene.
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For the first time in more than three years, Quirindi will contest the annual Connolly Cup.
Player shortages and unavailability caused the side's hiatus until a determined group of community members set about sparking the resurrection.
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Brendon Matthews, who will lead the side in its comeback game against Narrabri on Sunday, said the community was excited to make a return to representative cricket.
"A lot of hard work has been going on behind the scenes to get us back to this stage and everyone is really excited," Matthews told the Leader.
"Quirindi has a really proud history of cricket, and deserves a team to represent the town.
"For us, this return is about giving Quirindi an identity again among the Northern Inland Cricket region."
The return to senior representative cricket comes after Quirindi successfully relaunched a senior competition within the town.
"A lot of credit has to go to our president Nick Sevil, who has put in a lot of work to get a local competition going again," Matthews said.
"It's currently a 40-over a side competition and we are aiming to field four teams from across the community.
"There's still time to register for that too, if people are interested."
Matthews said the progress in senior cricket was a part of a resurgence for cricket in the Quirindi area.
"In the last few years, we have seen some really exciting growth in our junior ranks," he said.
"In 2017 we had 23 kids registered, in 2018 that grew to 70 kids, and this year we have 110 kids registered in both the blasters and the junior divisions.
"That kind of growth has been fantastic and a lot of credit for that goes to Jenni Hird and Kathy Sevil, as well as Northern Inland cricket manager Vinnie Cameron.
"Those guys have been fantastic in building our junior ranks up and that's why re-entering representative cricket is so important to our growth.
"We need to have a pathway for these juniors to follow and hopefully, that can be the Connolly Cup."
A regular contributor for Bective-East in first grade, Matthews said his side would be ready for Sunday's game.
"Quirindi has had a really strong connection with Bective-East for years and many of the guys from Quirindi play for them," he said.
"It's good that we have been able to stick together most weeks - I think it will really help us on Sunday."
As for their opponents, Matthews said he didn't know too much about Narrabri, but expected them to "field a handy side."
"Their first XI knocked off Tamworth last weekend, so no doubt they'll have plenty of depth," he said.
"We will just have to wait and see what sort of side they put on the park.
"For us, it's going to be about doing the little things right.
"If we can do that, I'm sure we will be competitive."
Sunday's game between Narrabri and Quirindi begins at 10am.