CANBERRA cricket legend Peter Solway played a massive role in the Comets' past. Now coach Mark Higgs is hoping he has played a role in shaping their future.
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Grenfell's Henry Hunt will make his debut for the Comets against a NSW second XI at Warwick Farm in Sydney on Monday that could contain former international cricketers Ben Rohrer and Trent Copeland.
Two years ago Solway put the 18-year-old in contact with coach Kyle Piper to get involved with the ACT under-17s after Solway spotted him at a NSW Combined High Schools carnival at Penrith in 2012.
Hunt then spent a couple of years commuting from Grenfell to Canberra for cricket until he finished high school.
Now he is studying exercise and sports science at the University of Canberra and lives in Bruce with his sister Clare, who plays soccer for the ACT Academy of Sport.
While Hunt will make his debut for the Comets next week, he played for the ACT against Afghanistan in a pre-Cricket World Cup friendly at Manuka Oval in September.
He didn't think he would be as nervous making his Futures League debut as he was that day.
"That game I was nervous, I didn't know many of the players," Hunt said.
"It was a good experience to play against a World Cup squad ... and just watch how they play the game, analyse how they do it and see if you can bring that into your own game."
With the Comets winless on the bottom of the Futures League ladder, Higgs said he would use the final game of the season to look to the future.
He will give Hunt a taste at the higher level and see how the Queanbeyan opening batsman copes.
Hunt has been a standout at junior level, making the team of the national championships at both under-17 and under-19 level since he began commuting to Canberra.
"The last two years our batting has been really disappointing so I want to start giving these young guys a look in and give them a chance to adapt to that level of cricket," Higgs said.
Hunt comes in for Beau McClintock, while the only other change is fast bowler Cameron Suidgeest replacing Mitchell Phelps.
FUTURES LEAGUE
Monday: ACT Comets v NSW at Warwick Farm, Sydney, 10.30am.
ACT COMETS: David Dawson (c), Matthew Condon, Henry Hunt, Dean Solway, Nathan Price, Andrew Harriott (wk), Vele Dukoski, Shane Devoy, Joshua Connolly, Cameron Suidgeest, Greg West, Joshua Bennett.
