Wallasey have a new captain - but little else is changing after the club’s most successful season in recent years.
Greg Beaver inherits from Alex Eagles a side which won last year’s Ray Digman Trophy and finished second in the Love Lane Liverpool Competition Premier Division.
It was their first silverware, and their highest league finish, since 2005.
And with their two star performers signed on for another year, Beaver is looking forward to building on what they have achieved.
Mesmerising left-arm spinner Sumit Ruikar and big-hitting opening batter Jamie Crawley were two of the league’s stand-out performers last season; Indian pro Ruikar with 79 wickets at under 11 each and 427 runs at 53.38, former Lancashire academy prospect Crawley with 779 runs at 45.82, and a blistering century in the Digman final triumph over Firwood Bootle.
“Having them two is massive, when you see what they brought to us last year,” said Beaver.
“It’ll be great to have Sumit back, and it’ll be good for the other slow left-armers at the club.
“My brother, Andy, is making the transition from bowling seam to slow left-arm so it’ll be massive for him - he’s already made great progress and to have Rui there will be a massive help as well.
“And Jamie can be very, very destructive on his day.
“He sets the tone from the start and it’s not just the runs he gets, he has a positive knock-on effect on the rest of the team.
“As a team, we like to play aggressive cricket - when you see him doing that at the top, it just follows on down to the rest of the team.
“I’m really looking forward to having them both back with us, and I’m sure they’ll be just as successful this year as last year.”
The success of 2021 has trickled down from the first XI, and Beaver says the whole club is enjoying the spoils.
Beaver added: “We’ve created a fourth team this year on the back of the success we had last year.
“Competing at the top of the Premier Division to the very end was great for the club.
“The job Alex did as captain last year was tremendous, and it’s made the process of me stepping in quite a smooth one.
“It’s a really important time for this cricket club now; these next two to three years are where we can really kick on and show what we can do.”
Only champions Northern won more and lost fewer than Wallasey’s 13 and four respectively last year. They were comfortably the second best side in the division - but that statement cuts both ways.
The expectation is that this season will be tougher than last, with county pros freed from their Covid bubbles - but Beaver is sure his side can challenge again.
“Provided we stay grounded and stick to what worked last year, there’s no reason we can’t have another year like we did last year,” he said.
“We’re all at the age now where we’re getting into the best years in terms of how we should be performing.
“It’s a very exciting time - it’s down to us to make sure we kick on from last year.”
