One of the fascinations of a divisional structure is that most title-winning teams face fresh tests in the following season. This summer the Med ImagingLiverpool Competition’s Division Two champions, Burscough, will be playing in a higher league than they have experienced before; they will have matches against Highfield and Southport and Birkdale, two clubs who were in the ECB Premier League just seven months ago. Colwyn Bay, having proved themselves the best side in Division One, are looking forward to returning to the Competition’s top division, where they know the challenges will be stiffer.
But what of New Brighton? Having won the title for the first time since 1998 last season, Martyn Evans and his men will be attempting to do what no one has managed since 2007: retain the Competition’s blue riband. The job ahead is not one of acclimatisation or adjustment; it is that of repetition, which, some would argue, is the test of proper champions.
Recent history would suggest that the Rake Lane side will have their work cut out. Since 1977 only Bootle have retained the Liverpool Competition’s top honour, although, rather predictably, the Wadham Road team have done it three times. (No team has completed a hat-trick of titles since 1962, when Birkenhead Park were in the middle of winning five on the trot.)
The size of the job facing New Brighton is not lost on their skipper, but the club has resisted any temptation to make a string of signings ahead of the new signings. Mark Rowland, a wicketkeeper-batsman who can also bowl a bit of medium pace or spin, has been recruited from Chester Boughton Hall. Lancashire’s Luke Procter has not been re-engaged. Effectively, the club has lost a player who might have turned out on a dozen occasions for someone who should be available all season. It looks like a rather nifty bit of business. Evans certainly thinks so.
“Mark doesn’t live far from us and he wanted to play in the Liverpool Competition,” he said. “He’s very versatile and he’s played for Cheshire, so I think we’ve got a good acquisition there.
Luke wanted to look at other options, and we we’re happy enough with the situation.”
Otherwise, New Brighton will be looking to win the title with the same squad they had in 2015. Upal Fernando (534 runs) will be returning as overseas professional, Ashraf Nawab (76 wickets) will be hoping to confirm his status as one of the Competition’s most potent spinners and David While will probably settle for scoring 630 runs and taking 45 wickets, an achievement that earned him the divisional player of the year accolade.
“We started pre-season nets in mid-February and we’re quite content with the squad,” said Evans. “We’re still aiming to follow a policy of promoting our own home-grown players. We had a few youngsters in the side last year and we’re hoping to get a few more in while competing at the same level.”
Yet, as he completed an impressive tour d’horizon of the Premier League, it was clear that Evans has not underestimated either the strength or number of potential rivals.
“We see that clubs are recruiting to push us this year but we wanted to keep the same bunch of lads together,” he said. “Everyone who has recruited has done so very well, so we know that we will need to be on top of our game to achieve what we did last year.
I said last April that we simply wanted to win every game we played and we will have the same goal this year. We know it’s going to be a much tougher test this year and that it’s not going to be just Ormskirk, Bootle and Northern who will be challenging. Lytham and Leigh, among others, have signed well, so it’s going to be very competitive.”
