They also illustrated the benefits of hard work, perseverance and self-belief, and how you don't need to be defined by the limitations of your childhood.

When Jordan attended Farrer, he couldn't make the the school's top cricket sides. He had favoured batting over bowling.

But as is the case with a lot of young people, he didn't really know himself - at least not as a cricketer. It turned out that there was a serious fast bowler lurking inside him.

"I was sort of a late bloomer," he said, ahead of City United's one-day clash against Old Boys at No 1 Oval on Saturday.

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By the time the 23-year-old reached his late teens, he found himself struggling with the bat as he oscillated between first grade and second grade.

"My bowling was all right, probably the better [of the two]. So I just worked a lot harder between first and second grades when I was about 18, 19, and that was when I sort of became an out and out bowler and a lower-end, a tail-end slugger."

"I always thought I'd be a batter," he added. "I always enjoyed batting a lot more [than bowling] when I was younger. I still enjoy batting, but bowling has definitely become my love ... [there is] nothing better than getting someone out."

Jordan took the second most wickets in first grade last season, his 35 dismissals in 15 matches coming at 18.34 apiece.

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Only City off-spinner Scott Brennan took more wickets (40). Third and fourth on the wicket-taking list were fellow City pacemen Jack McVey and teen Joey Mead.

The trio are the attack dogs of a City United side who covets success palpably, and who have transformed themselves into title contenders the past two seasons.

The foundation for Jordan, McVey and Mead's 2018-19 success was an early start to preseason training. McVey spent the last off-season playing in England. But Jordan and Mead once again worked extra hard, in preparation for the current season.

The move has proved judicious. In the opening three rounds, Jordan, Mead and McVey are first, second and fourth, respectively, in the bowling standings - with nine, five and four wickets in the one-day clashes. City off-spinner Anoop Gopalakrishnan is third in the standings with five wickets.

Jordan said: "Me and Joey Mead started training about six weeks early again. It wasn't quite as intense as last year, but it was still good just to hit the ground running once we were ready to play."

City is second on the ladder, with two wins, and are one point ahead of Old Boys. They also started last season strong, and led the competition at about the halfway mark of the season, before faltering in the run to the finals as their batsmen struggled.

Jordan said the players had spoken "in small amounts" about last season's form wobble. This season was "about going that one step further and bettering ourselves".

In other matches on Saturday, Souths and Wests meet at Riverside 1, while Bective East and Norths clash at Riverside 2.

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