Give or take, Joe Merlino tackles a 120-kilometre round trip between home, school and cricket.
Having joined Newcastle club Cardiff-Boolaroo this season, twice a week he travels to Cameron Park's Pasterfield Sports Complex for training and every other weekend for games.
Merlino is also a year 12 student at Hunter Sports High School, commuting to Gateshead from Monday to Friday.
He lives in the Central Coast town of Toukley.
"I don't mind the travel at all, I quite like driving. It clears my head a bit," Merlino said.
"I come up here [to Newcastle] every day for school anyway, so it's just another 10 or 15 minutes."
Merlino, who turns 18 next month, has relished the move from junior club Northern Power to CBs in 2022-23.
Opening the batting, the colts representative has scored 392 runs in Newcastle District Cricket Association's first-grade competition at an average of 32.66.
He kicked off proceedings with 55 on debut, made 52 in both innings when Cardiff-Boolaroo upset defending premiers Stockton just prior to Christmas and managed to notch up his maiden century.
Merlino's run-a-ball 101 against University in round five rates highly, bringing up the milestone with back-to-back boundaries hit over the infield.
"It was my first ever hundred so it was pretty nice," he said.
"There wasn't that much different between that day and a day I get a scratchy 20, everything just clicked a I batted with a clear head."
Merlino was introduced to CBs via school teacher, club coach and Australian Country Championships hall of famer Mark Curry.
It has been a tale of two seasons, having opened with a 0-5 record and now enjoying a five-game unbeaten streak - one tie and four wins.
"The first half of the season we had a lot of individual performances with bat and ball, but not really clicking together," he said.
"And it wasn't like we didn't look like winning at all, there were a few close games we just didn't have that last kick to get us over the line.
"The second half of the season, it all really started when we beat Stockton and everything just clicked. Batters and bowlers are performing, not one or the other but together."
Cardiff-Boolaroo will be defending 199 on day two of round 12 this weekend with Belmont resuming at 0-6 at Cahill Oval.
Merlino, who has previously played rugby union for Lisarow and Lake Macquarie, says he'd like to try and crack the Newcastle's representative cricket squad and eventually try his luck down in Sydney.
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