It turns out the City United run machine's decision to play three-straight off-seasons for Yorkshire-based amateur cricket club Filey is the result of a woman. Consequently, he is currently in his seventh consecutive season at the crease.

Fitzgerald, who turns 21 next month, met Ella Harrison during his first stint with Filey. He says he wouldn't have gone back to England the past two seasons if it was not for Harrison, who is studying mental health nursing at university in the UK.

"That's [his relationship with Harrison] really the main reason I've gone over the past couple of seasons, and cricket was just a bonus, sort of thing," he says, adding. "But yeah, no, I'm still enjoying it [cricket]; it's good."

Fitzgerald and Harrison met towards the end of his first season with Filey. "She's at uni at the moment," he says. "She finishes next year some time. The big plan is she'll come over [to Tamworth] for Christmas next year."

He will not play for Filey next off-season.

Understandably, this endless cricket cycle has left Fitzgerald feeling a bit weary, although you wouldn't know it based on his performances - including scoring 994 runs, at an average of 55.22, for Filey last season and producing a match-winning 141 not out for City against North Tamworth last round.

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His run aggregate for Filey - who won a second-straight Scarborough Beckett League Premier Division title last season - was the second highest in the competition. He posted three centuries and five half centuries, with a highest score of 143 not out. (The leading run-scorer was Staxton player Robert Pinder, who complied 1324 runs at 94.57. "He is a very good player," Fitzgerald says.)

So is Fitzgerald, clearly. He was man of the match in Filey's T20 final win against Scalby in September. Bowling what he described as "gentle" medium pace, he took 2-23 off five overs and then piloted Filey to victory with 52 not out. "Aussie ace Fitzgerald shines as Filey win Hospital Cup final" shouted the Scarborough News via its headline in the match report.

He also finished second on the bowling standings, taking 48 wickets at 14.60 and with a best of 6-24. "I've never really rated myself as a bowler ... over the past couple of seasons in England I've had a bit of a stint at it, but I don't think it's for me."

He added: "We won the comp again, we went back to back, and I think that's pretty rare, especially for Filey ... I had a pretty good season, I thought.

"I'm feeling pretty confident with the bat. I think, obviously, seven seasons in a row [without a break] helps ... I'm feeling pretty good. It's more, really, patience now."

Stand-in City skipper Brad Smith praised Fitzgerald's temperament in steering the side to an unlikely win against Norths, after being 3-26 chasing 222 at the end of day one at Riverside 2. City lost only one more wicket in their successful run chase last Saturday.

"It was just unreal," Smith said of Fitzgerald's inning. "He just punished the poor ball and then got the singles when he needed to."

Fitzgerald - who works at the Northwest Tennis Academy - says he has matured as a cricketer, hardly surprising given how much he plays. "When I first joined first grade, I was getting a lot of fifties, but I was always getting out." He continued: "I think I've gotten better at being able to stay patient a bit more ... I'm getting better at going on a bit more now, I think."

He says third-placed City United's hunger for a premiership is helping him overcome fatigue. The side confronts fifth-placed West Tamworth in a two-dayer at Riverside 1 on Saturday.

In other matches, first-placed Old Boys confront last-placed Bective East at Riverside 3, while fourth-placed Souths and second-placed Norths meet at Riverside 2.

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