Higgs called stumps on his illustrious career at the end of last season but was a late inclusion for Queanbeyan in Sunday’s SCG Cup fixture.

Batting at number four, the 36-year-old wasted little time getting back into the swing of things hitting a quick-fire 11 off nine balls before bagging 3/15 (6) with the ball as Queanbeyan posted a comfortable 56-run victory.

“I actually felt pretty comfortable out there,” Higgs said of his return to the crease. “I whacked a few straight away and the shot I got out on I’d probably play nine times out of 10 in the situation we were in.

“The ball came out well when I rolled my arm over so it didn’t really feel like I’d been out of things for too long.”

But while Queanbeyan would dearly love to have Higgs on board for the rest of the season, the former NSW and South Australian state representative is yet to make a decision on his immediate playing future.

The Bluebags’ win over Eastlake last Sunday demonstrated the club’s impressive resilience in the shorter forms of the game so far this season, despite an exodus of talent over the offseason.

The club’s two-day fortunes however, took a hit after being humbled by a powerful Tuggeranong side at Chisholm in round three Douglas Cup action on Saturday.

Queanbeyan was dismissed for just 77 in its second dig en route to suffering an outright defeat in a performance Higgs said harkened back to those of the club’s dark days in the early 2000s.

“It was a terrible performance against Tuggeranong,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve seen the club put in such a performance in a long time…to lose like that is very disappointing.

“You can’t spend too much time dwelling on a result like that though or it breaks down your whole summer, you just need to deal with the disappointment and move on.”

After recruiting strongly over winter, Tuggeranong are widely viewed as the frontrunners for this year’s two-day competition.

Higgs however, said Queanbeyan had proven its credentials in the format in recent years adding it was too early to count the three-time defending premiers out of the running to retain ACT Cricket’s premier competition.

“Tuggeranong has always played well at Chisholm but the real cricket is played at Manuka come finals time,” Higgs said. “They can juice the pitch up down there to suit themselves but they haven’t beaten us at Manuka too many times in the past few years.”