A SIX-wicket haul isn't a bad way to leave the field in your last game for your club.
For Cavaliers cricketer Liam Faithful, it was a bitter sweet moment as his teammates clapped him off Captain Cook Oval in his final game.
The 17-year-old emerging leg-spinner is departing for Brisbane to begin his tertiary studies at Griffith University and, according to teammate Eli Jamieson, Faithful will be sorely missed.
"Liam [Faithful] is someone who has brought a lot to the side as a player and as a person," Jamieson said.
"Sometimes you forget he is only 17 because he makes us older players better with his enthusiasm and dedication to the game."
The respect is mutual as Faithful credits much of his development as a leg-spin bowler to the support and guidance he has received from the likes of Jamieson, Shane McKay and Jason Naylor at Cavaliers.
"Those guys, along with the rest of the Cavaliers side, have really helped me grow in confidence and work at my spin bowling," Faithful said.
However, the end of his Mount Isa cricket career signals a new beginning and ambitions of going further in the game for Faithful.
"Hopefully I can take what I've learnt in Mount Isa from my days playing as a junior and in the senior ranks with Cavaliers and continue to improve and play grade cricket in Brisbane," Faithful said.
The talented player who reached representative cricket as a junior and was selected in the Queensland Cricket's Emerging Players Squad at various age levels, understands it won't be easy walking into senior cricket in Brisbane.
"I think the level of cricket is going to be a big step up so I realise it will take a lot of hard work to even make a side," Faithful said.
It is the step up in competition and the chance to work with experienced coaches that Faithful is looking forward to.
"There are some fantastic players in Mount Isa, but the challenge of playing against and learning from guys playing at a consistently high level will help me develop as a cricketer," he said.
If Faithful's hunger for improvement in Brisbane matches his progress in Mount Isa he stands a great chance of making the grade in the big smoke. Faithful only took up leg-spin bowling seriously at the start of his senior playing career in the 2010/11 season.
"I think Liam [Faithful] has a great chance of becoming an A-grade player in Brisbane," Jamieson said.
"Since he set his mind at developing as a leg-spinner he has become our club's secret weapon.
"For a young spinner he has great control and is getting better with each game he plays."
Jamieson said Faithful's desire to improve as a cricketer is obvious in the way he trains and works on all aspects of his game.
"He is one of the best trainers at the club and along with his bowling, he has been working hard at his batting," Jamieson said.
Faithful admitted he always preferred taking wickets to making runs but understands the importance of being able to contribute as a complete cricketer.
"I enjoy helping the side with my bowling but ideally I would like to develop into a genuine all-rounder," he said.
One thing learning and plying his craft in the Mount Isa competition has done is help the young bowler grow a thick skin.
"As a spinner, especially a younger player, I think you have to expect to be hit for a few boundaries," Faithful laughed.
"There are some blokes who can hit the ball a long way out here. But I've found what that has taught me is to be brave and continue to throw the ball up.
"You can't drop your head when the ball goes flying over it and the fence."
Faithful said he was sad to be leaving his team and his teammates, especially with the chance of defending the title Cavaliers won last season.
However, that feeling is tempered by the prospect of getting to bowl on turf wickets and developing his already handy bag of tricks.
"I am looking forward to playing on turf where, hopefully, there will be more purchase and turn to get better as a bowler," Faithful said.
"I've been able to come to grips with the leg-break, top-spinner, a wrong 'un and a slider and I would love to try get a quicker ball and a flipper going."
Faithful's teammates, while wishing him success, are already working on a contingency plan if they make the grand final.
"There have already been discussions, and if we get back to the final, we will be flying him back," Jamieson said.
"We can't go into a grand final without our secret weapon."
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