Optimism at Lisburn as new season gets underway

LISBURN Cricket Club commence the season with fresh optimism as they begin with a completely new regime.

David Simpson takes over from Greg Thompson as captain and he is joined by a new professional; Darryl Brown who replaces Yasas Tillakarate and promises to be an exciting addition to the strength of the club. He has spent the last two seasons playing for Fox Lodge in the North West.

A South African, Darryl (28), has scored a lot of runs during his time with Fox Lodge and recorded one of the highest batting averages last season. He is a right hand batsman but can also bowl medium pace and will help out the bowling attack in this capacity.

Darryl is keen to set the coaching system in motion as soon as possible and will be supported in this department by Lisburn’s new Cricket Development Officer, Nathan Waller. He is a 20-year-old Zimbabwean who comes to the club with very good coaching qualifications. He has played for the young Zimbabwean team the Eagles and has achieved the position of high performance coach in Pretoria.

The addition of both these talented player should stiffen up both the batting and bowling departments. David Simspon will lead the attack backed up by Richard McConkey, Brown, Waller, Richard Simpson and the ever improving Mark Berry. Ian Whitten’s availability is unknown as he has just transferred his rugby skills to the south of England club Exeter.

The spin department is in good hands with Hennie van de Merwe, Greg Thompson and Robert Rankin and the arrival of Carl Williams from Ballymena should also strengthen the ranks.

The batting, which needs to be more reliable, surely will be bolstered by both Darryl and Nathan and along with Adam Berry, Robert Rankin, Greg Thompson, Jonny Bell and the captain himself should provide the bowlers with decent scores to defend.

The Allen brothers, Keith and Stephen, from Waringstown are also new additions to the Lisburn books and both are talented players who will be pushing for permanent places in the opening Lisburn line up.

The season begins on Saturday with a friendly against Fox Lodge in Wallace Park but the real test starts the following week when Lisburn host champions North Down in the Park in the first league game. This followed by Waringstown, also at home on May 5; if Lisburn can gain points from these two very difficult games the future season could show great promise.

The new Lisburn coach, Darryl Brown arrives in time for the Fox Lodge while the Cricket Development Officer, Nathan Waller is already here and started his coaching in the schools this week.

The times for net coaching are as follows; Senior practice-Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm.

Under 15 practice will be Mondays from 6pm to 8pm and Under 13 and Under 11 will be on Wednesdays from 6pm to 8 p.m. Along with Darryl Brown and Naatham Waller will be a coaching team of Gary Blair, Trevor McKeown, John Glass and Stephen Ligthtbody and all boys are welcome to attend the sessions.

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