Mike Crookson |
It is now seven years since the most senior side at Westhoughton Cricket
Club has won anything of note, but new 1st team skipper Mike Crookson is hoping he can change all that, as he attempts to get his hands on a trophy
in what is his second stint as captain of the club. It is a situation he is
relishing having last led a young and improving side from 1993 to 1997.
Mike knows a lot will depend on if he can keep a settled side, which usually
comes down to a few good early results and a good team spirit, “we have a
fairly young side this season, take Pilky (Ian Pilkington) and myself out
and we have the youngest team for a number of years” he said, then continued “a number
of youngsters have already come through the ranks and played at this level
for the last couple of seasons so I will be looking for them to continue
their progress and contribute even more to the team this time around.
Unfortunately though, we have lost four key players in Neil (Bannister),
Mark (Atherton) and Adam (Coates), who have moved on to pastures new and I
would like to wish them well with their new clubs, we will also be without,
and miss, former captain Steve 'Pugs' Parker who announced his retirement at the
end of last season. That said we have brought in three new signings in Michael
Daley, a hard hitting middle order batsman from Farnworth, wicket
keeper/batsman Kieran Paisley (Farnworth Social Circle) and opening bowler
Dan Reeve (Heaton)”. Mike added “we haven’t had a regular keeper
for the last few seasons, so Kieran will be a massive plus. All look to be more
than useful acquisitions and eager to prove themselves at 1st team level”.
Mike was also enthusiastic about the signing of new pro, Rich Cameron
commenting “the last South African professional we signed was Brad White in
2001, who that season broke the club professional batting record, but not
only that, he gave us valuable experience, and had a great attitude and
mentality which spread to the other players. Hopefully it is a South African
thing and Rich will bring us a similar approach, which is something we
didn’t really get with Theo (Doropoulos) last year, mainly due to him
struggling with his own form”.
Mike is also looking forward to a better playing surface at the Oval this
season commenting “the square has been re-seeded and I know the groundstaff
have been working hard to rectify the problems we have had and if we get
some decent weather, we are all confident we will get some good quality
wickets to bat on, which will hopefully contribute to some decent scores and
eventually, fingers crossed, something to show for all our efforts at the
end of the season”.
