The 18-year-old said he has “showed signs” of pushing on to better scores but keeps losing his wicket too early.

“I’d like to convert those 20s and 30s into higher scores," the opener said.

“It’s annoying getting those starts and not converting.”

The scores are starting to increase, though.

A handful of scores in the teens for Willoughby while playing for Mornington was followed by a 34 for Gunnedah against Narrabri in the War Veterans Cup two weeks ago.

It was his first start for the Gunnedah first XI, as he top-scored, but the batsman still thought he could have done better.

“It was a good feeling to get picked but in that situation, I needed to stay out there and get a few more runs,” Willoughby said of his effort for Gunnedah.

“To get another 20 or so a bit hastier would have been nice.”

Willoughby is a Coonabarabran boy and makes the trip to Gunnedah each Saturday to play.

He’ll do the same this weekend when Mornington take on Court House at Kitchener Park.

Willoughby believes the key will be keeping Court House’s score down if Mornington are to have a chance to beat their opponents.

“They’re always a good team and they bat one to 11,” he said.

“We’ll have to find a way to pick up wickets without them scoring too many runs.

“We’re probably not going to be able to chase 200. Hopefully we can put on a good performance and see what happens.”

He isn’t the only Willoughby to play first grade for Mornington this year.

Harrison, 14, has racked up a handful of games and he’s been quick let his big brother know he beat him to first grade in terms of age.

“He’s been saying ‘I debuted before you’,” Nick, who debuted in first grade when he was 15, said.

Nick said Harrison wasn’t taking a backwards step, either.

“This is his first year in first grade. He’s pretty tough,” Nick said.

“He comes in and faces all the quick bowlers. Jenko shortened his run up for him and he [Harrison] said ‘No, you can go off your normal run up’.

“He’s come on a fair bit in cricket. In juniors he was more of a bowler but he’s now starting to shift into more of a batsman. He’s been fairly tough, I’ve probably helped with that.”

Mornington head into the game on the back of a loss against Albion.