So the sight of the former Canberra Comets batsman at St Edmunds College cricket training has been a timely one as he prepares to come out of retirement one more time.

The only problem? "I have started helping out at St Eddies ... but that has been feeding balls into the bowling machine rather than being on the receiving end."

Garrity is among a host of ex-Comets set to turn out for an Old Boys XI against Stuart MacGill's SCG XI at Cricket ACT's All Stars for mental health day at Phillip Oval on Sunday.

The cavalry is back together. There's Garrity, Mark Higgs, Stuart Karppinen, Darryle Macdonald and Rob Regent.

Add Heath Axelby, Michael Spaseski, Randall Starr, Simon Mann, Colin Smart, Adam Heading, and Greg Lemin into the mix and you've got some side.

But when it comes to actually reliving the glory days with big scores and bags of wickets, Garrity laughs "there's probably not much hope of that".

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"I had an old boys game for my club Wests, which I think would have been about five or six years ago. I think that would have been the last time I would have had a hit," Garrity said.

"It's certainly been a while. I don't know how it'll go, but I'm sure it'll be good fun.

"It might have been 15 years ago or whatever but everyone got on pretty well, and we'll get back into it and relive good memories."

Of those there were plenty. Canberra's foray into the domestic one-day competition saw a group of little-known battlers, with the aid of one swervin' Mervyn Hughes, Mike Veletta and a young buck named Brad Haddin, take on the best in the land.

"The years we were in the Mercantile Mutual Cup were great years, we brought a higher profile to cricket in Canberra which was great," Garrity said.

"Our fondest memory was our first victory, which was against Victoria, down in Bendigo. That was something I would say was one of the highlights of my career.

"They had a really strong side, and obviously we were the underdogs, so to knock them off was a big achievement. I'm sure that one will be remembered this weekend.

"I think that day they had Damien Fleming, Paul Reiffel, Dean Jones. They had some really established top-class players so it was good to knock them off."

As for who is running around alongside MacGill in the SCG XI? Garrity has no idea.

"I hope they're as long retired as what I am."

While Garrity is preparing to dust off the pads, his former club Wests will go into battle against North Canberra-Gungahlin in the final round of the Gallop Cup at Jamison Oval on Saturday.

Queanbeyan and Ginninderra will jostle for spots inside the top four at Freebody Oval while Tuggeranong Valley will look to claw their way in against ANU at ANU North Oval.

Eastlake will look to take the wind out of Weston Creek Molonglo's sails as their title defence continues at Kingston Oval.

CRICKET ACT ALL STARS FOR MENTAL HEALTH

Sunday: Gates open at 12pm. Northside All Stars v Southside All Stars at 2pm. SCG XI v Comets Old Boys at 6.30pm. All at Phillip Oval.

Northside All Stars: Jak Willcox (Ginninderra), Caden Helmers (The Canberra Times), Ben Alexander (former ACT Brumbies), Matt Condon (Western Districts), Daniel Leerdam (ANU), Lewis Evans (ANU), Rhys Healy (Ginninderra), Esam Rahman (North Canberra-Gungahlin), Josh Staines (Western Districts), Ben Mitchell (ANU), Scott Murn (Western Districts), Blake Dean (Western Districts). Coach: Mick Delaney (Ginninderra)

Southside All Stars: Jono Dean (Weston Creek Molonglo), Sam Williams (Canberra Raiders), Jack Billman (musician), Tom Henry (Eastlake), John Rogers (Weston Creek Molonglo), Ollie Anable (Tuggeranong Valley), Paul O'Malveny (Eastlake), Sam Taylor (Weston Creek Molonglo), Shane Devoy (Tuggeranong Valley), Tom Vane Tempest (Tuggeranong Valley), Tyler Van Luin (Queanbeyan District), Djali Bloomfield (Weston Creek Molonglo). Coach: Adam Tett (Eastlake)

Comets Old Boys: Mark Higgs, Heath Axelby, Michael Spaseski, Ian Garrity, Darryle MacDonald, Rob Regent, Randall Starr, Simon Mann, Stuart Karppinen, Colin Smart, Adam Heading, Greg Lemin.