The Cats opening batsman highlighted the main ambition this season was to lift the illustrious twenty20 cup.

“We want to win the Sungold Cup,” he said.

“It is the only thing we haven't done achieved yet, and we’ve made it our main goal to win it.

“We think we are a good enough team to go far in the competition.”

The South West powerhouse club’s last attempt at claiming the inter-association cup ended in a 51-run semi-final loss to Stoneyford in 2017. Stoneyford would go on to lose the grand final by seven wickets to Mount Gambier.

Standing in the road of Mortlake’s qualification for this year’s $15,000 twenty20 competition is Heytesbury,

The Cats host the Rebels on Sunday at Terang, with Mortlake and Schafer feeling confident about all aspects of their game.

“We are pretty confident with our bowling attack, our batting and in the field,” the opener said.

“With our batting however, we have got to make sure we make lots of runs,

“One of the top three batsmen needs to make runs and build a good base for our middle order in case we lose some wickets.”

The Cats opening pair of Schafer and Shane Slater has made a habit of making strong starts in the SWC division one, with the pair averaging 45.9 and 28.2 respectively this season. 

Schafer said that his close bond with Slater was the reason they have made positive starts to their innings.

“We bounce off each other well out in the middle,” Schafer said.

“We switch our roles often, say it may be me attack one game and Shane is more defensive or it could be the other way around depending on the situation and what’s best for the team. 

“What role Shane and I play is usually decided after the first few balls we both face in the innings.”