Howell takes up Walmley reins

WALMLEY CC held their annual AGM last Monday which resulted in a few changes at the club, writes Joshua Hayward .

The main change was that club captain Gary Steer, after a number of successful years as skipper, decided to stand down.

Replacing him as skipper of the First XI is Chris Howell (pictured above), with Paul Griffiths as vice captain.

Howell is excited about the new task, saying: "I'm really looking forward to it but it won't be too different from what I was doing last season.

"Gary wasn't able to play much last year so I stood in as captain.

"Gary was a good captain and I've played with his since we were young.

"He has been an extremely good cricketer and a lot of people look up to him."

Walmley CC had a fantastic year last season, finishing third in the Birmingham Premier League and also excelling in the cup competitions too.

Howell added: "We did really well last season, we won the Midlands Twenty20 Cup and we got into the last 16 of the limited overs cup, losing to Shrewsbury in a bowl off.

"We also got out of our group in the National Twenty20 and ended the season by having a strong finish in the league.

"We've got a great bowling attack, as good as anybody's and we're now just looking for another batsman or two.

"The main thing is that we try and perform better than we did last year, myself included.

James Cannon will be the captain of the Second XI for next season with Mark Russell as vice captain.

The Third XI captain will be John Piggot with Kyle McDonald as his vice captain.