Cricketers in Tamworth, Narrabri and Armidale will all pad up for the first time in 2017 this weekend.
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The Narrabri competition is the first to resume after the Christmas/New Year break with Tatts and Civeo playing a Twenty20 clash on Friday night.
The first two rounds back will be Twenty20s ahead of the final on February 3.
Crossroads face RSL in the other game on Saturday night, and will be looking to make it two from two and cement a finals spot.
They also lead the overall competition and have a 13-point buffer over defending champions Tatts.
It’s been about a month since they’ve been out in the middle though, and a while since they’ve been in Twenty20 mode with the only other game back at the start of the season.
They will be missing a couple of their big guns, most notably Coby Cornish and Craig Trindall.
Skipper Luke Meppem singled out Mark Fielder as a key for them with the bat at the top of the order, along with Shane Smith and Chris Sargent.
Sargent will also have a big role to play with the ball. As the Big Bash has shown, the slow bowlers can be the most effective.
“In Twenty20 it’s harder to hit boundaries off them because you’ve got to make your own pace,” Meppem said.
“Especially Sarge. He flights them up there with no pace on them.”
The big wicket for them will Mick Dowdell. The most destructive batsmen in the competition, he can take a game away.
Old Boys also have a few out for their top of the table Tamworth competition match-up with South Tamworth at Riverside 2.
Both sides will be missing players with Souths without skipper Tom Groth and possibly a few others, while Old Boys will have no Aaron Hazlewood or Chris Coulton.
It will put a bit more pressure on the bowling attack, but captain Ben Middlebrook is confident they can cover for them.
“We’ll look to Smithy (Josh Smith),” he said.
“He’s been pretty good all year.”
“Young Jack (Richards) has (also) been bowling well. He’ll bowl well through the middle overs.”
Souths will pose a considerable threat with the new ball, with Angus McNeill and Tom O’Neill.
“Tom O’Neill is bowling excellent at the moment,” Middlebrook said.
“They’re a good opening pair.
“It’ll be a good challenge for us but we’ll be up for it.”
Bective-East meet Wests at No.1 Oval and Norths face City at Dick Edwards in the other games.
In Armidale, Hillgrove return to the crease with a six-point lead over Easts.
They are yet to drop a game and face third-placed City at the Sportsground, while Ex-Services take on Barbarians at Lambert Park.
