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ROBINSON BOWS OUT AS MATT GLAYZER TAKES OVER AT BROOK LANE

Date: 11th November 2014

ROBINSON BOWS OUT AS MATT GLAYZER TAKES OVER AT BROOK LANE

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Seamless handover as Ormskirk prepare for 2015

After spending five years helping Ormskirk retain their position as one of the best cricket clubs in the country, first team skipper Ian Robinson has decided to relinquish the captaincy. His successor-elect  - the confirmation will take place at the March’s AGM - is 27-year-old Matt Glayzer, who has declared himself both “excited” and “hugely honoured” to be taking on a post once held by his late father Nick.
 
There is really nothing terribly surprising either about Robinson’s decision to step down or Glayzer’s eagerness to take the job on. Captaining the first team at one of the Med Imaging Liverpool Competition’s leading clubs is both a privilege and an enormous commitment. Doing the job for five years, especially when the last 18 months of that period have been enriched by the vastly greater responsibility of raising a daughter, is probably long enough for most people. Robinson does not demur at the suggestion that he wants a little of his life back.
 
“I’d made up my mind that, no matter what happened, I was going to step down about halfway through last season,” he said. “My successor could have been either Nicky Caunce or Matt, but Nicky also has a young baby, so there was no real issue there. When I took the job on, I wanted to do it wholeheartedly, which included watching the juniors and mentoring younger players. I’ll now play for whichever side Matt selects me. First and foremost I am a member of Ormskirk Cricket Club.”
 
And so it falls to Glayzer to attempt to retain both the Liverpool Competition title and the Lancashire Cup, the former feat having not been achieved since Bootle managed it in 2007. If Ormskirk are crowned champions next season, it will be their fourth such triumph in eight years and the first time they have won back to back titles since 1977.
 
It already seems likely that they will go into the campaign with the same side that dominated local cricket last summer. Gary Knight’s availability constitutes the only uncertainty, although Robinson’s farewell present to Glayzer was to negotiate the return of the slow left-armer Dane Currency. Having accomplished that, he put down the reins, reassured by the calibre of his successor.
 
“Matt was at Ormskirk when I first came down to the club,” he said. “He knows the place inside out, he’s got every attribute required plus the fact that he’s quite good at cricket.”
 
As for the man himself, Matt Glayzer immediately makes it clear that his prime objective is to win the Competition again. County and national honours matter a lot, too, but meeting the challenge thrown down by New Brighton, Northern, Lytham, Bootle and, who knows, maybe Formby too, will be his main objective.                         
 
“It’s not going to be easy following Ian because he’s done such a good job as captain,” he said. “
 
Judging by my experience of the previous two occasions when we’ve won it, it’s always harder to win it again in the next season. A lot of teams have strengthened and will strengthen but we have a good group of players here. It’s a relatively young side and we have some very exciting young cricketers coming through as well.
 
“It was a job I was looking to do and when Ian asked if it was something I was interested in doing, I just felt that the time was right to take it on.
 
“We’d love to win 
in the national knockout at some point but you do need your full strength side in the later rounds and that’s something we’ve struggled to do lately. The Comp sides have been unlucky because I can’t remember one of our teams being at home in the very late rounds and home advantage is massive in those games. You know what a score is on your ground. 
 
“That apart, everyone sets out to win the ECB Premier League and it would be very nice to defend it, but we’re under no illusions that it will be anything but a very difficult task.”
 
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