Simon Norvill out to impress for Central North at Country Championships at Tamworth

And the explosive opener is doing the latter at an age when many cricketers would be content to stay in a comfortable groove.

On Friday, the 35-year-old will take to No 1 Oval for Central North for their Country Championships opener against Newcastle.

The Central North vice captain is in the midst of his debut first-grade season in Newcastle.

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He is making a weekly commute in order to open the batting for University.

Norvill said he played "a couple of games" for University last season when Tamworth cricket was washed out.

He said the club - which includes former Tamworth players Andrew Harriott and Tom O'Neill - contacted him in the off-season and asked him to play a full season.

"And yeah, just thought I'd go down and give it a crack," he added.

"It's a bit better standard [than Tamworth]. And see if I can go score some runs down there while I can still run around."

Norvill has been in decent form this season, having got starts in all but one innings in the Newcastle comp, with a highest score of 44.

Overall this season, he has scored 177 runs in eight matches at an average of 29.50 and with a highest score of 54 - made playing for the Bolters in the Regional Bash.

Norvill has had many memorable innings at No 1 Oval, perhaps none more so than a 35-ball century playing for Old Boys against West Tamworth in a finals clash in 2018.

"I've played a lot of cricket there," he said. "So I know the conditions pretty well and do enjoy batting there."

"[It's] a bit of a different beast going into these carnivals, with the higher standard," he added.

"You've gotta try and work your way into the innings a bit more, then go all guns blazing.

"I guess the thing I try and do is, see ball, hit ball. If it works, it works, and we'll see what happens."

Norvill said Central North had selected "a very different side to what we've had in the past", with "a lot of new guys making their debuts".

That, he said, was "good to see for Central North" as it gave those players "experience of these sort of carnivals".

"And hopefully puts them in good stead for their own cricket and helps them rise to the occasion of the higher standard, and see if we can't get a win for once."

Central North also have clashes against North Coast and Greater Illawarra at No 1 Oval on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

CENTRAL NORTH: Scott Brennan, Hayden Baker, Abel Carney, Tom Fitzgerald, Tait Jordan, Harry King, Jeff Lee, Adam McGuirk, Simon Norvill (vc), Jye Paterson (c), Brad Smith, Dylan Smith, Shannon Threlfo, Nathan Trindall. Coach: Luke Knight.

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