Fresh start pays off for Lewis

Now he's looking to back it up against former club South Wagga in the grand final rematch at Robertson Oval on Saturday.

The 20-year-old finished with 3-12 off 3.1 overs in his debut for Wagga City in their win over Lake Albert.

After a couple of years out of the game, Lewis was pleased with his haul.

"It was a bit of a surprise," Lewis said.

"I had got to a point where cricket was more of a chore and not something I was really enjoying.

"I preferred to have some free time but having some closer mates playing with me this year has made a bit of a difference and I really look forward to playing now and I'm really enjoying being at Wagga City."

Lewis came through the South Wagga junior ranks and the off-spinner is looking forward to the big test against the Blues.

"I've had a couple years off and used to play for South Wagga," he said.

"I played all my juniors there and a couple years of second grade but a couple of mates got me over to Wagga City this year and I thought I'd give it a run again."

Captain Josh Thompson has been impressed with the impact he has made so far.

"He's jumped across, trained all pre-season and is probably the fittest in the group so we gave him an opportunity through injury after Burgey hurt his ankle," Thompson said.

"Zaccy got the opportunity and took three wickets at the end which was really good."

However Tom Burge returns for the clash with South Wagga after making an unbeaten 74 in second grade last week.

He'll come in for Blake Walker who is struggling with hamstring issues.

Thompson hopes the teen can get past the issue, which flared up in the pre-season.

"I think we will miss him for the next couple of weeks," he said.

"He has had hamstring problems for a few years now and just pulled up a bit sore.

"He did it about a month before the first round and stopped training a little bit just to get a bit of strength back into it but I think the heavy ground might have hurt him a little bit."

With Walker out Thompson or Ben Turner will take over the gloves.

Coming up against the Blues, Thompson is looking for the young team to rise to the task in the grand final rematch.

"This is going to be a real big challenge for us as they are obviously a real strong team," he said.

"It's predominantly spin so it is going to be hard for us to manipulate runs and I'm sure what the Robertson Oval pitch is going to be like but we are definitely going to have our work cut out for us to score enough runs for them boys from getting over the top of us."

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