Cricket: Luke Paterson hopes to continue good form against Old Boys after five-wicket haul in first game

Such is the case for Bective East's Luke Paterson who, at 27 years old, is relishing the opportunity to be a mentor to his fresh-faced teammates.

As a schoolteacher at St Joseph's, Paterson found stepping becoming a role model within the team a relatively natural progression.

"[Being a teacher] definitely does help," Paterson said.

"We have a couple of young guys this year who are going to be around the fold in seconds and firsts. They need someone around them who can pat them on the back if they've had a bad over, stuff like that."

That sense of seniority appeared to lift Paterson in Bective's first-game loss to Tamworth City.

Although they conceded 201, the offspinner's figures of 5-38 helped to limit the damage. However, the five-for came as a surprise to Paterson, whose pre-season preparation was truncated.

"It was pretty much the first ball I've bowled all year," he said.

"With the rain and everything, we haven't had that many training sessions. The first couple of overs were pretty rough, and I got a bit lucky in the end."

Despite his modesty, there was some skill involved in Paterson's haul as he has honed his bowling since childhood.

His father, Chris, is the president of the Tamworth District Cricket Association and his older brother, Jye, is the Bective captain. It was almost inevitable that Luke would become involved in the game, and indeed he said that was "pretty much" the case since birth.

Paterson initially bowled pace until high school, when he realised that it was not his natural inclination and he might have better success spinning the ball.

That, at least in the first game of the year, looked to have paid off.

And though he hopes to continue his good form this weekend against Old Boys at No. 1 Oval, he knows they are "always a hard game".

"Going into the start of the season, they're always the favourites to win the comp," Paterson said.

"They don't have as many young guys, usually, but the older guys are just awesome players.

"If someone fails, someone else will always pick it up and take it away from you."

Initially scheduled for two days, this Saturday's game has been converted to a one-dayer after last weekend was washed out.

And after their collapse against Tamworth City, Bective's batting stocks will be replenished by Jye's return.

"I think we're all in a good place," Paterson said.

"It'll be good to get Jye back this weekend, that'll help us with our batting up top. And we'll hopefully field better, we were bad in the first game. That's usually something we're usually pretty good at."

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