DALTON intend to make a quick start to the new North Lancs League season – with the help of a Zimbabwean fast bowler.
The Ulverston Road side hope the presence of the 31-year-old Test and ODI all-rounder Shingi Masakadza can help them enjoy a successful season in the new-look Premier Division.
Skipper Liam Curwen has high hopes Masakadza – who can bowl at 80mph-plus and has a highest First Class score of 140 – will make a big impact in South Cumbria.
“He’s an opening bower who has been in and out of the Zimbabwean national set-up for the best part of 10 years,” said Curwen, who is in his third year as captain and whose deputy this term will be Liam Steele.
“He’s played five Test matches and 16 ODIs so he has played at a really good standard, and his brother (Hamilton) was Zimbabwe captain for a long time.
“He is someone who has got good experience and who can hopefully pass it down because we are quite a young team.”
Despite some good performances year, a youthful Dalton side finished the 2017 campaign bottom of the Premier Division. But with the league having now been extended from eight teams to 12, and Dalton’s first three games being against promoted clubs, Curwen is confident his side can enjoy a better summer this time round.
“We’ve got Whitehaven, Millom and Lindal in the first three games and we are hoping to get a fast start and get some points on the board,” said Curwen, whose team will benefit from the discontinuation of the four-on, four-off daily shift patterns at BAE Systems.
“We don’t have any new players, but the shifts are off in the yard now so we will have everybody back on a regular basis apart from injuries,” he said. “We should be at full-strength all season with the same 12 or 13 players.”
Structural changes see five South Cumbrian teams in the top-flight, meaning there will be more derbies to look forward to. And with there being a dozen sides competing, teams will revert to playing each other home and away, rather than three times.
“We didnt really mind the travelling – we liked the bus on the way home!,” joked Curwen, when asked about the prospect of more derby matches and less trips th the north of the county. But I do prefer playing teams twice rather than three times.”
Dalton are benefiting from the opening of new £30,000 net facilities – paid for in part by the help of Sport England and the ECB, and partly by the club’s own fund-raising initiatives. All they need now is some decent dry of weather in order to utilise the new nets. We haven’t been able to train outdoor really for the last few weeks because the ground has been too wet, so everyone is knuckling down this week and raring to go,” said Curwen.
