Worlington Cricket Club put their faith in youth for 2023 Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship Division One campaign

Worlington captain Graham Ford is hoping to avoid more final-day drama at the bottom end of the table this season.

The last two years have seen Worlington’s status in Division One of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship go down to the last round of fixtures.

And on both occasions Ford and his team-mates have managed to avoid relegation, finishing one place outside of the bottom two to remain in the Two Counties Championship’s top flight.

Worlington start their 2023 campaign at home to East Bergholt this Saturday (12pm) and will be looking to prevent a hat-trick of nervy end of season finishes.

“I think we’ve just got to look to progress from last year,” Ford said.

“The last two years we’ve gone down to the final day with a relegation battle and we’ve survived both days.

“It would be nice to be more around mid-table, but again our expectations are that every game is going to be a tough game and we’ve got to be ready for it.

“We’ve had good battles with East Bergholt over the years and it should be a good one to get us started with.

“We’ve got a lot of youth players that have got older.

“Our attitude towards this season is we’re trying to progress and bring on some of the youth players.

“Some of them showed glimpses last year to come through and make a stand in the first team.

“We’ve brought in one very good player, Tim Taylor, who has relocated to the area, and the rest of our players we’ve retained from last year.

“Tim’s an all-rounder. He’s a very good player and I’ve been netting with him all winter. I’m looking forward to seeing him in action.

“We have lost Simon Nicholson, who has gone to Chelmsford. He’s relocated closer to London.

“He was in the first team with us. Simon’s a great guy and we’ll miss him but hopefully he can come back in the future.

“Apart from that we’ve tried to bring on a lot of our youth players.”

With Ford planning to field another youth-inspired side at The Street this year, he has high hopes of several youngsters making a name for themselves during the season.

“Arthur Summers will be one of them (to watch out for),” he said.

“He’s been training with Suffolk and I’m looking forward to seeing his progression over the winter months.

“We’ve picked up Matt Wittish as well. He’s been injured for the last two years and is returning from injury. It will be nice to see him back playing for the club.”