Callum Henry admitted he shocked himself a bit by how quickly he found his rhythm again after guiding City United to a bonus point win over North Tamworth on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
In his first game this season, after breaking his ulna back at the start of October, he finished unbeaten on 25 and hit the winning runs - a sweetly-struck six - as City chased down the Redback's 123 inside 30 overs, four down.
It was a welcome, and confidence-boosting return, Henry showing little sign of someone who hadn't batted for three months.
"It was pretty good," he said.
"I didn't think I was game ready. I shocked myself; hit a couple of good balls and kept well."
He suffered the injury playing in the State Challenge at Coffs Harbour.
"I was fielding and going for a catch, and another bloke ran into me and his head hit my arm," he recalled.
It was a 14-week recovery, seven weeks in a full cast and another seven after that before he could get back to any cricket.
Initially thinking when the cast came off he'd be able to play again, he was eventually able to get back in the nets a couple of weeks before Christmas. But that was nothing like being back out there on Saturday.
But that was nothing like being back out there on Saturday.
"I've been going down (to watch) but it's been pretty frustrating not being able to do anything," he said.
After Aaron Baker (35) and then Tom Fitzgerald (27) had put them in a strong position for the bonus point, when Henry went out the equation was three an over.
It went down to the wire, needing seven off the 30th.
After Richie O'Halloran (23no) took a single off the first ball, Henry then stepped up and whacked the next over the boundary.
"I was pretty lucky a ball ended up in my slot and I connected to it well," he said.
Post-match City skipper Tait Jordan joked that the keeper-batsmen was "a pretty good mid-season buy".
"It was really good that he was able to get a bit of time in the middle and bit of confidence for himself," he continued.
"It's pretty handy having him come in at six."
Jordan had earlier got City on the front foot with the ball picking up the first two wickets to have Norths 2-27. Andrew Baines then chimed in with 3-29 before Oscar Spinks (4-3) came in and cleaned up the tail.
On debut for the Redbacks, Sid Harvey was their shining light with the bat.
Having a final hit-out before the under-17s national championships, where he will represent ACT/NSW Country, he scored almost half of their runs, top-scoring with 60.
"That's a pretty tough pitch, [but] he went out there and just belted it, made it look like it was a lot easier than it was," an impressed Norths skipper Adam Greentree said.
The first time he has really seen the Narrabri teenager, he said he probably picked his balls to hit better than the other batsmen did, noting that they "were probably guilty of a few poor shot selections."
Similarly with the ball, they probably just bowled too many "four balls" early in City's innings.
"It wasn't a lot but it was enough to get them off to a start, and when you're chasing a low total if you get off to a good start it's hard to rein it back it in," Greentree said.
But he wasn't overall too disappointed.
He led the way with the ball with 2-14 from his eight including two maidens.
