FORAN, HOUGHTON AND BARNES MOVE FROM IRBY TO BIRKENHEAD PARK

Date: 7th January 2013

A Paul Edwards copyright exclusive for L&DCC Official Website.

Park's squad strengthens:

After winning the Second Division title in their first season after returning to the Bridging Finance Solutions Liverpool Competition, Birkenhead Park have offered evidence of their ambitions by signing former skipper Chris Foran, slow left-armer Robbie Houghton and batsman Mike Barnes.

The trio all played for Irby last season and both Barnes and Foran are former Park players. The signings have delighted the trio's new skipper Chris Stenhouse who admits he had been on the look out for cricketers with the qualities Houghton and his two colleagues possess.

"Chris is a long-serving Park player who left for personal reasons only a few seasons ago," said Stenhouse. "When he told me he was looking to return, we had a chat and then Robbie and Mike decided to follow him. Chris has led Park to championships in the past and what he really gives me, in addition to his skills as an all-rounder, is experience.

"Robbie saw we went up last season and now he's opted to help us along. I'm really pleased to have signed him because the main thing I was looking for this close season was a slow left-armer and now I've got one. I want Mike to steady the top order batting and help us consolidate any early progress we might make. We've been something of a feeder club for Irby over the past few seasons, so it's nice to reverse the flow a little bit."

And there may be yet more new faces at Park come April. Stenhouse is in discussions with a couple of other players and is looking to strike the right deal for an overseas signing, although he admits that it would be no sort of disaster if he went into the season with eleven England-qualified cricketers.

"We don't want to get ahead of ourselves but with the current squad I don't think we'll be struggling to avoid relegation," he said. "I'd settle for a place in the top half of Division One."