The cricket season gets underway this weekend with Spalding Town, Long Sutton and Moulton Harrox all looking to build on last year’s campaigns.
After securing their status in the ECB Lincolnshire Premier Division last season, Spalding are looking to push on under new 1st XI captain Jon Manton.
“We’re all feeling good about the new campaign and we pretty much have the same squad as last time out, though there’s no Mitch Freeman.
“We’ll continue to do what we do, which is give young lads a chance to flourish.
“There’s a few players to look out for this season.
“Ollie Dring goes to Uppingham School and is part of Leicestershire’s Academy.
“He’ll have a big part to play this year and his younger brother Barnaby Dring is one to watch too.
“Opening bowler Brandon Andrew has enjoyed a winter training with Nottingham University and he’s developing into a really exciting talent.
“A lot of the lads are young but will be much better for that first season in the ECB Lincolnshire Premier League.
“It’s a high standard, but we feel we’re up to the challenge.
“It’s a case of taking each game as it comes.”
The club are continuing to play games at Moulton Seas End while training at Spalding Grammar School.
“The whole club’s in a really good place,” Manton said. “We’ve a thriving junior section who have been training all through the winter.”
Spalding open with a home game against Scunthorpe on Saturday.
The South Lincs and Border Championship is the new name for the top flight of the local level below the premier where Long Sutton and Moulton Harrox will be looking to have good season.
Long Sutton finished last season in seventh place.
“We felt we under performed and the table doesn’t reflect our abilities,” returning skipper Jake Burton said. “We did have a bit of bad luck with injuries and the weather.
“We lost three games to rain against sides down the bottom which we might have picked 60 points up from that would have put us up there in promotion contention.
“We’ve a couple of new lads coming in and it should give us a strong squad.
“Overall, everyone’s positive ahead of the new season.”
Nathan Oliver from March CC is among the arrivals.
They will also welcome Josh Baker back after the opening bowler suffered a season ending injury six games into last year.
“We’re hoping for a really good season from him,” added Burton. “We lost our impetuous with the new ball when he suffered his back injury.”
“We have so many players and I think the whole side can be match winners.
“There’s so many that can do a job, especially with the bat.
“I like batting and got 66 opening in the final game of last season, but I’ll likely be at number 11 for the start of the season.
“We’ll see how we go,” Burton continued. “It’s a strong league, especially towards the top.
“I’m not sure we’re quite there to challenge the top four, but we also know that on our day we‘re good enough to beat anyone in the league.
“It’s just a case of looking to do it week in, week out.
“We’ve a game against Sleaford first up who are one of those you expect to be near the top.
“It’s an exciting team and hopefully we have a good season.”
lChris Beale will be skippering Moulton Harrox this season, though they don’t start their South Lincs and Border League Championship season until next weekend and a visit to Boston, who opened the season with a nine wicket loss to Woodhall Spa 2nd XI last Saturday.
“We haven’t been able to train outside yet with the weather but we’re all excited for it,” Beale said. “We should be pushing on this season.
“There’s not too many changes from last year.
“Henry Lavery is in the RAF and is now stationed in Wales, but apart from that, we should be more or less the same.
“We have the club’s first overseas player from New Zealand coming too.
“Jamie Kitchen is a young wicketkeeping all rounder who is looking to get a bit more experience.
“We understand he’s also a decent bowler, so we’ll see how we use him.
“We’ve got a few fairly handy players.
“Josh Newton has been around local cricket for a long time now and didn’t have the season he normally would have last year.
“We know he’ll be back to his best this year and when he’s scoring runs he always gives you a chance as a team.
“Left hand opening bowler and batter Matt Rose is another of those who can make a difference right from the start.
“We’ve also kept hold of West Indian Travis Harrison,
who has stayed in the area and is a really handing opening batter.
“Young Harry Lovell had done really well with the ball in the 2nd XI so we’re hoping to bring him and a few of the youngsters through.
“We’ll see how things go in the first three or four games and see from there what we can do this year.
“We had a decent season last year, but you always want to aim to do better than last season.
“It is going to be a tough league though and the South Lincs Championship is going to be decreasing in teams so four teams will be relegated which means some more be looking over their should than they were last season.”
