Skipper Pat Yates wants his players to make amends going into new season
Skipper Pat Yates wants his Downham side to make amends after being pipped to the Premier Division crown by Fakenham last season.
Downham start their new Norfolk Alliance campaign with a tough-looking trip to Cromer.
Looking ahead to the season, Yates said: “After a disappointing end to 2018 in which we led the league for the majority of the season, but were deservedly beaten to the title by Fakenham, it’s great to be back outside and hoping to make amends this season.
“Last season actually came as a bit of a surprise to be at the top of the league for so long as we were still in a transition period, with our younger players still gaining the experience required to perform consistently at this level.
“That will continue this year, with the likes of Dom Corbett leading our spin attack and Chris Sharp taking over the gloves permanently.
“Unfortunately over the winter we’ve lost Alex Stuart, opening bat and keeper, to a knee injury that is likely to rule him out for at least the first part of the season.
“I think with all clubs in Norfolk, player recruitment has been tough, purely due to the dwindling numbers of players in the county, but we’ve got a couple from the second team looking to step up, with Jason Porter in particular pressing his case to open the batting following a strong pre-season.”
Yates added: “We’ve had two good warm-up games so far, against March and Wisbech, and new overseas recruit Fletcher Coutts of New Zealand has impressed with both bat and ball.
“Fletcher is a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and right arm medium-fast bowler and has fitted in really well with the lads in the two weeks he’s been here.
“We’ve got a lengthy trip to Cromer, who are always a good side, first up on bank holiday weekend, so that will be a good test of where we are at.
“We’re looking to be competitive at the top end of the table once again, but the league has strengthened with Norwich coming down from the EAPL and Fakenham still there, too.
Downham’s A10 rivals Stow are also on the road with an opening-day fixture at Garboldisham.
Stow spokesman Peter Brassett said: “After finishing fourth last season we will be looking to maintain the standards and performance that we put in last season.
“We have unfortunately lost overseas player Amit Dhadwal but have replaced him with a young player in Declan Oldreive, who attends Gresham’s, and Keith Thomson, who is back from Australia.
“We have lots of good young players at the club, who will have benefited from last season and will be another year older and stronger to help us push on again.”
