Busy time at Church Road.
After finishing a modest eighth in the 2015 ECB Premier League table, Lytham have taken steps to rectify matters for next summer. The Church Road club have already made two close-season signings and more may be on the way.
There have been significant departures, too. After travelling across to the Fylde in each of the last two seasons, Will Hale has returned to Hallam CC in Sheffield, where former Rainford skipper Mark Williams has been playing for the last three seasons, while leg-spinner Danny Edwards has joined Skelmersdale.
“Will’s done brilliantly for us since he joined and has been the league’s leading scorer in the last couple of years,” said Lytham skipper, Guy Roberts, “but it was getting hard for him with all the travelling, so his move makes sense and we wish him all the best, as we do Danny.”
But as well as bidding a couple of players the warmest of farewells, Roberts will be welcoming both Matt Taaffe and Taylor Cornall to Church Road when pre-season nets get under way.
Taaffe, a 19-year-old top-order right-hand bat who also bowls a bit of leg spin, has joined from St Annes, while Cornall, a left hand opener with Lancashire Under 16's last season and part of the county system since age 11, has been signed after a very successful junior career at Thornton Cleveleys CC .
Roberts is also in discussions with at least two other players and at least one announcement is expected very shortly. Meanwhile, Roberts has been encouraged that Dominic O’Brien has no current plans to return to his native Australia for anything more than brief visits.
“Dom will be vice-captain in 2016 and I think he will be a Category Three player in 2017,” he said.
