Being a part of a young and talented Tamworth Blue Connolly Cup side, and watching them blossom, has had something of a rejuvenating affect on Adam Lole.
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"They just enjoy playing," he said.
"It reminds you as an older player why you keep playing."
Approaching three decades of first-grade cricket, the top order batsmen has really enjoyed helping bring the young players through and navigate the step up to senior representative cricket for the last couple of seasons.
And they haven't disappointed.
Against Glen Innes last month, Sam Murphy starred with the ball, the teen quick claiming 3-6 off his six as they skittled the home side for a paltry 71.
Matt Holmes was also impressive finishing with 0-14 from his six.
They are two players Lole is particularly looking forward to seeing what they can do as they look to make it two-from-two against Walcha at No.1 Oval on Sunday.
Young leg-spinner Zac Craig also gets his chance, and will share the spinning duties with fellow teen Kilian Apen, who also picked up three against Glen Innes.
Lole then led from the front with the bat, combing initially with Thomas Haling and then Kayne Shearman to knock off the runs.
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"It was nice opening the batting with Tom. I opened with his father (James) a bit all those years ago," he said.
He said the competition is a good chance to blood the likes of Haling, Murphy, Jones and Apen.
"That's what we did last year," he said.
"You only have to look at blokes like Callum Henry and Jack Hamilton."
"They were playing with us last year and now they're playing for the 1st XI."
Walcha are yet to post a win but Lole isn't underestimating them.
"As with any team from the smaller towns they always have one or two guys that are pretty handy," he said.
He recalled playing them a few years ago with Old Boys in the [now defunct] Country Shield.
"From memory their new ball bowlers were fairly honest, their abouts," he said.
Understandably he couldn't really fault the performance against Glen Innes. The only thing was building bigger partnerships.
"That is something we can improve on," he said.
"If we bat first hopefully we can put some good partnerships together."
In Sunday's other eastern conference fixture Gwydir host Armidale while in the western conference Quirindi are at home to Peel Valley and Moree match-up against Narrabri.
Tamworth Connolly Cup team: Adam Lole (c), Nathan Mann, Killian Apen, Ben Livingstone, Charlie Henderson, Matt Holmes, Tom Haling, Sam Murphy, Brad Walters, Jaryd Stevens, Zac Craig, Travis Ling.
