Delph have what it takes to mount big push — Jones

Photo: PICTURE: PAUL STERRITT

NEW FACES: Delph Cricket Club boast five fresh players for the 2014 Drakes Huddersfield League season. They are Greg Buckley (left), Andrew Cadd, Jonny Forrester, Andrew Gleave and Craig Fletcher.

Cricket:

DELPH skipper Grant Jones feels this could be the year his team make a sustained push for the Drakes Huddersfield League Premiership title.

The Huddersfield Road side has finished fifth in the last two seasons, but they have recruited heavily this winter and Jones has revealed competition is as fierce as he has ever known since Delph joined the competition in 1999.

Popular Zimbabwean EU amateur Kevin Hook and Pakistani run-machine Irfan Zahoor have left Delph, but FIVE new faces have joined: Andrew Gleave and Johnny Forrester from Lancashire County League outfit Dukinfield, talented leg spinner Greg Buckley and opening bowler Craig Fletcher from Kirkburton, and 18-year-old quickie Andrew Cadd from Saddleworth and District Cricket League outfit Austerlands.

Jones, who is set to embark on a 16th season at Delph after he returned from four years as professional at Stayley and Flowery Field, said: “We’ve only won the league title once, back in 2003, but now I feel we’re in a great position to have a real crack at it again.

“The last few seasons has seen us finish around the fifth, fourth, third mark, but this year I’m quietly confident we can push for the title.

“We’ve got a really strong all-round squad. The batting goes deep and the bowling is strong, and there’s a lot of excellent young players at the club at the moment.”

Delph get their Premiership campaign under way at last year’s Sykes Cup and Twenty20 Trophy winners Hoylandswaine, who finished in fourth place in the league standings in 2013.

Delph have been drawn at home against Broad Oak in the Sykes Cup first round. The tie will take place on May 4.