BARNARDS Green Cricket Club chairman Andy Lamb says it is vital the club retain their status in one of the biggest amateur divisions in Midlands cricket to keep Malvern high on the sporting map.
Malvern’s biggest cricket club get their Birmingham League Division One campaign underway on Saturday with a home match against Smethwick at North End Lane.
Barnards Green will be looking to improve on their seventh placed finish last season after they finished the season with 279 points – 61 behind league winners Walsall.
Phil Harris has taken over as first team captain for the new 2016 season, while Ash Brewer assumes the role of club skipper.
The club have also managed to seal the signings of Worcestershire pair Alex Hepburn and George Rhodes as their two contracted players, with the club hoping their experiences in Australia throughout the winter will benefit Green throughout the season.
Seventeen-year-old Australian batsman Kyle Giniotis joins the ranks for his first experience of English cricket after a successful season in first grade cricket for the Northern Jets.
Lamb said he was looking forward to building on the club’s success in the past decade which has seen them climb from the lower parts of the Worcestershire County League to the second tier of the Birmingham and District Premier League.
“It is imperative that we retain Division One status in the Birmingham League as this gives us access to county-contracted players and continues to provide the opportunity for top class cricket for players and spectators alike as well as promoting the town of Malvern on the sporting map,” he said.
“I would like to state my personal thanks to the many volunteers who have supported the club and myself during my time as chairman and whose work has made the club the happy, safe and successful place it is.”