Coming out of the recent State Challenge, Sid Harvey was resigned to missing out on the ACT/NSW Country side to contest the national under-17s championships.
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The final step in the selection process for the team to travel to Hobart at the end of January, Harvey wasn't confident about his chances after not having his best tournament.
It wasn't that he played badly necessarily, he just felt he "could have done more". That was exacerbated by only being allowed to bowl on the first day due to 'bowling loads'.
"But you get that in some games," he reflected.
"So I was like that's alright, I'll get another opportunity or something else will come up."
But, to the Narrabri teenager's delight, when the phone call came through from coach David Freedman, it was a congratulatory one.
"It was really special," Harvey said.
"It's just awesome to be able to play at such a high level with the boys and kind of be recognized as well at that level, it's good."
Harvey is no stranger to the nationals environment.
Earlier this year the multi-talented sportsman played for the NSWJRU under-18s Barbarians team at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships. He was also named vice-captain, and best back for the NSW Country under-18s from their annual clash against City.
But this will be his first nationals for cricket.
His biggest cricketting achievement so far, it has been an almost eight month wait with Harvey named in the initial training squad around the end of last season.
As part of that he had to keep up his training through the winter.
Juggling that with his rugby commitments he would usually do the required two running sessions before training, then get into his footy work.
"We didn't have to do too much bowling during the off-season but as we were coming back into it I would bowl once a week and then try and squeeze in two or three gym sessions a week," Harvey said.
It was bit of a struggle at times, especially living out of town, but his hard work paid off.
Last season named in the AW Green Shield team of the year on the back of his 13 wickets at an average of 14.08, it has been a comparably slower start to this season for the 17-year-old as he manages a shoulder injury.
It's only really in the last month that he has been bowling "at 100 percent".
Something hanging over from last season, he said he wasn't really aware of it until he started bowling again this season.
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It got a good work-out last week with Harvey playing four days with Central North at the Country Colts carnival, then backing up for his club side Tatts in Narrabri on Friday night and turning out for Namoi in the Central North under-17s competition on Sunday.
Understandably when he spoke with The Leader, he was looking forward to a few days rest.
"My body's a bit cooked at the moment," he quipped.
But he loves it (playing). As he put it, he wouldn't do it if he didn't.
Batting in the top order for Tatts and also Namoi, Harvey expects to figure predominantly as a bowler for the ACT/NSW Country side. But he doesn't mind, he's just excited for the opportunity to firstly go to Hobart, and secondly test his skills against the best players in the country.
The championships will run from January 16 to 23.
