Rebels captain-coach Travis Brown said playing Bookaar was the ideal way to start their summer.

“They are a good, young team and they are the team that beat us to the finals last year,” he said. 

“We are similar teams so it’s good first up to have a hit-out against them to see where we’re at.”

Heytesbury Rebels are yet to play finals in three seasons in the competition.

Brown believes they are well placed to break through in their fourth season.

He said they’d focused on basics at pre-season training and were ready to push for a top-four tilt.

“We’ve just tried to carry on from last year and be consistent, with both bat and ball,” Brown said. 

“We’ve worked on that at training, bowling the right line and on our batting being solid and maybe a bit more aggressive.

“You have to go into the season positive.

“We’re looking to move on from where we finished last year.

“We have a good group of young blokes and have added a bit.”

South West ushered in the new season with a Twenty20 tournament last weekend.

It has reintroduced two-day cricket to its schedule after a two-year hiatus. 

“The one-dayers are back to 40 overs so it’s different because we played 50 overs last year,” Brown said.

“And then we’re back into the two-dayers.

“I am looking forward to the prospect of two-dayers and I know the young boys are looking forward to it.” 

In other round one games, Twenty20 champion Mortlake plays Simpson, Pomborneit meets Twenty20 runner-up Noorat and Terang hosts Cobden.