Season is nearly upon us!!

There is in my opinion nothing more heartwarming than the first signs of spring. The dark winter ebbing away and the prospect of long, warm days filled with outdoor life and the optimism of the blank canvas of a cricketing summer ahead.

I am absolutely delighted to write this season preview as the newly elected Chair of Chorley Cricket Club, taking over from Mr Peter Mockett at the recent AGM. I place on record once more everyone’s huge gratitude to Peter for the work he has done in his roles at CCC over the years.

There are so many exciting things to look forward to- we finally welcome Roshen Silva as our Pro, whom I know our first team captain Andy Holdsworth rates highly. I`m genuinely excited to see a player with such a superb first-class record work his magic for us this Summer. In addition, we are hoping to see much more of our own Ed Moulton playing this year, and lead what looks like a truly outstanding bowling attack for Chorley. There are no significant player out goings, and with the addition of new senior coach Brett Pelser I suggest that we will be fighting at the other end of the table to last year!

Remember the National Knockout? (We did OK in this in the past). It`s now called the Royal London Club Championship and we are back in it and play at Rainhill in our first round tie.I know many CCC supporters had the best of times watching us in this competition previously, so another date for the diary folks- Sunday 1st May.

In our second team, Alex Howarth has taken over from Chris Harty in the role of captain this Summer after a superb term of office from Chris with several trophies in the bag in his time as skipper. Well done Chris! Alex is a perfect replacement for him and once more I have high hopes for the two`s to push hard for continued success.

In our third team, the role of skipper will be taken on once more by Oliver Smith with duties shared with someone called Ross Demming, not sure who he is? Home games to played on Saturdays down at Limbrick again, where some big improvements have been made to facilities-thanks to all involved.

And don’t forget if you need a regular fix of cricket on a Sunday, our development team is run by another familiar name in Roland Horridge, where two or three seniors (veterans if we are honest) give juniors a taste of longer format league cricket to bridge the gap between forty over adult games and short format junior matches.

As ever our junior section continues to thrive with over seven teams training and playing regular Palace Shield fixtures, with incredible support from our team of coaches/volunteers and our new junior head coach Bobby Denning this summer. Bobby will lead the junior section training and we welcome his addition to the CCC family.

There are a few pre season games, weather permitting, over the next couple of weekends, and the first home league game is an intriguing one against newly promoted NPL rookies Vernon Carus on April 23rd at Windsor Park. I hope you are as excited as I am, and I truly look forward to seeing you there!

Oliver Jones

Chairman