James Psarakis' great form this season has earned the former Tamworth cricketer a call-up to the ACT/NSW Country Second XI side for their games against NSW Metro in Canberra this week.
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It will be the first time the Country Colts-winning Central North captain has donned the ACT/NSW Country colours at senior level and comes on the back of what has been his best start to a season since he moved down to Sydney.
After setting the tone with an unbeaten century in the opening game, he has registered two half-centuries and is currently the 13th highest run-scorer in the Sydney first grade competition, and second top for his Western Suburbs side behind captain Josh Clarke, with 256 runs at an average of 85.33.
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Having previously worn the blue and gold at the under-19s national championships, playing for the Comets is something that has been on Psarakis' radar for a few years.
"But I was probably just putting a bit too much pressure on myself and just wasn't performing like I'd like to," he admitted.
But COVID gave him a new perspective and he came into this season with a "completely different mindset". He wasn't too worried about scoring runs, he just wanted to go out and enjoy himself.
His stats would say that has paid off.
He is excited about what the next few days will offer and looking forward to the chance to test himself at that next level.
"It's going to be good competition, a lot of the guys play in the BBL and there's some state cricketers there," he said.
Psarakis will play alongside the likes of star new Sixers recruit Dan Christian, who will captain the ACT/NSW Country team, Thunder and former Australian quick Chris Tremain and Thunder spinner Jono Cook while former test spinner Steve O'Keefe headlines a NSW Metro side that also includes Sixers opening bowler Ben Dwarshuis, batting allrounder Jack Edwards and spinner Ben Manenti, and Thunder spinning allrounder Arjun Nair.
They will play two T20 matches on Tuesday, followed by a 50-over match on Wednesday and another T20 on Thursday, and Psarakis is keen to learn off the likes of Christian, who is one of the most successful T20 players around the world.
"It's probably the one format I've got to learn the most about," he conceded.
"I've played a bit of it but I haven't played a lot of it at the high level so I'm excited to over the next couple of days down there learn off the guys that do play that high level T20, and just learn little bits like about planning how to approach the batting in each situation, which is probably something I need to work on for that next kind of T20 level."
