Big Bash tune-up for national tournament
CENTRALS captain Ben O'Connell has missed a few games with his club side this season due to his representative commitments.
However, he's keen to enjoy this weekend's double-header before preparing for the Australian Country Championships early next month.
The classy allrounder is available to lead Centrals in today's Premier League clash with Northsiders at Limestone Park before lining up in tomorrow's Baxter Big Bash at Amberley.
Centrals open their Big Bash campaign against the Taipans.
"They are going pretty well in the T20 so it should be a good game," O'Connell said.
However, it's in the Premier League competition that O'Connell is looking for more consistent performances.
"I'm not totally happy," he said.
"We're sitting okay but we'd like to be doing a lot better than we are at the moment."
O'Connell expected Centrals to field a near full-strength side today but was waiting to see which troops could play tomorrow.
"There's a couple of guys (like Nick Vellacott) away on holidays so we might just have to bring in a few fresh faces on Sunday," he said.
"We're looking at Northsiders first of all as the big game.
"We got up over them earlier this year but they are building momentum so we definitely want to push our claims for top-two finals position.
"We're looking at that as our main focus."
As for tomorrow, O'Connell enjoys the short game format.
"The last couple of years I've played a lot of T20 so you learn from it every game and the way to approach it," he said.
"It's definitely becoming more appealing for families and young people to go and watch that game."
Club captains are reminded to email their Premier League scoreboards to: qtsport@qt.com.au by noon tomorrow.
