Priory keen to get up and running

The opening day visit from East Grinstead last weekend was abandoned without a ball bowled, echoing Priory’s start from last summer where the elements again meant their season started slowly.

“It’s really frustrating,” admitted vice-captain John Morgan. “The only difference with this year is that at least we’ve managed to play some friendlies and a national cup game; we couldn’t do that last year.

“But it’s annoying because every other team managed to play. When you see teams picking up 30 points, it’s bugging that we didn’t get the chance to do that ourselves.

“We’re confident we can kick-start the season this weekend and really get going. It’ll be a challenging game - we’ve lost there before - but we’re ready to go for the win.”

Priory (probable): Tom Gillespie, Josh Poysden, Adam Maharaj-Newman, Dave Draper, Freddie Hulbert, John Morgan, Scott Woodroffe, Jake Woolley, Kyle Adcock, Adam Barton, Mick Glazier.

Elsewhere tomorrow, Bexhill will begin their home programme in Division Two against St James’s Montefiore eager to pick up their first win following a frustrating draw at Middleton last weekend.

“We’re looking forward to it,” said captain Malcolm Johnson. “We know the facilities and we’re hoping to use these to our advantage and pick up an important 30 points.”

Crowhurst Park captain Colin Ayres wants his players to start taking responsibility for their performances. Last season’s Division Three (East) champions began life in Division Two with an away loss to St James’s last weekend.

“We’ve got some extremely gifted cricketers at the club,” Ayres said. “But some members of the team need to step up. We have a number of young players, but even these guys are experienced players now - at this and higher levels. We need to be professional in every aspect of our game.”

Park will play their first home match of the campaign against Findon tomorrow and Ayres is looking forward to hosting a match under the new facilities at their Telham ground.