Muzaffer has put a spring in players’ step - skipper

Ali Muzaffer . . . well-known at the Coppice.

CRICKET: 

WERNETH has provided stability by appointing Ali Muzaffer as the professional for the rest of the season.

The Coppice Lake Garage CLL club had expected Sri Lankan Kaushalya Gajasinghe to be their pro for 2015, but his ties to his country’s development squad prevented this.

With Werneth having to find stand-ins every week, the club decided to go for a player the team knows well.

Muzaffer played for Werneth in 2013 and 2014 and last season was eighth in the CLL amateur batting averages with 507 runs at 28.17. He had been playing as an amateur at Littleborough for the first part of the season, but played for Werneth in Saturday’s JW Lees Bitter Tom Hardman Twenty20 Competition group match at Radcliffe, which the hosts won.

Werneth skipper Ian Dronsfield said: “Ali is well known to us, knows the majority of the players already and is keen to succeed in his first professional job.

“We see this as a positive step for the club, and he has already taken over the running of training with a few different ideas.

“The appointment of a professional has produced a spring in the step of the players, which we will hope be replicated in matches.”