Strengthened Scarcroft fire warning shot to rivals
SCARCROFT captain Damian Aston says he "couldn't be happier" as his in-form side eye their seventh consecutive win.
Scarcroft host reigning champions Old Modernians tomorrow, having beaten Leeds Police by 105 runs in the Wetherby League on Saturday, then edged a tight Fred Fleetwood Cup game against Great Preston.
Aston said: “It’s been great so far this season.
“We’ve got five wins out of five and we’ve also played in the cup and had a good win, so I couldn’t be happier.”
The captain said his side had bolstered its batting line-up, putting them in good stead as they look to build on last season’s failed title push.
“We’ve always been seen as a strong bowling side, but questions have been asked about the strength and depth of our batting,” he told the Wetherby News.
“Now we’ve strengthened that a little bit.”
Opener Richard Stephens has been recruited from New Rover, while Michael Malloy - brought in from Crossgates - is batting in the middle order as well as bowling.
“We want to win the league this year,” Aston said.
“We were on top halfway through last season, then went through a bad patch of form losing six out of seven, and all of a sudden we were sitting fourth, which was where we finished.
“We have had another really good start and we are now smarter, wiser and more experienced, so hopefully we can show greater consistency, which is possibly what was lacking last time around.
“This year we know if we turn up and play we can beat anybody in the league.
“We beat every team except Great Preston last year and we have played them twice in the last two weeks and beaten them twice.”
The most recent meeting was on Sunday, with Scarcroft posting 238, thanks to Simon Ball (60), Simon Smith (53) and Pete Phelan (41), before bowling out Great Preston for 205.
Scarcroft go into tomorrow’s match with a full squad, though Aston says the squad’s depth is one of their key strenghts.
“We have 13 or 14 players now who are bang on up to First Division standard,” he said.
Aston said he had been particularly impressed by Chris Oldfield’s form with the ball and also praised his side’s batting.
“Mark Gregson, Richard Stephens and myself have been putting on some good partnerships, with at least one of us getting 50 every week, and that has set us up at the top of the order,” he said.
But the skipper knows his players have to stay on top of their game if they are to maintain the title challenge.
“We face the second-placed team, Old Mods, this week and Shadwell - who are third - the week after, so we will have to play very well to stay on top,” he said.
For a full Wetherby League update. see page 40.
rick.burin@ypn.co.uk
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Weather for Wetherby
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
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Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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