Rainford captain John Dotters has said his side is looking to build on the success of a positive pre-season as they look to compete in the Love Lane Liverpool Competition Division One this season.
Their season starts on April 23 against Ainsdale and they have friendlies against Widnes and New Brighton lined up.
Rainford, relegated from the Premier Division in 2018 after a yo-yo couple of seasons, finished fourth last year as their promotion campaign ran out of legs.
But with a normal pre-season under their belt, Dotters reckons his side are ready to go again.
He said: “Last season, we only started in March - this year, we got straight into it in the second week after January.
“We had mixed winter nets and we’re looking forward to getting outside from Saturday, so we’ve had a good eleven or twelve weeks with decent numbers turning up and now we’re just preparing for our friendlies.”
Being able to start early has also allowed the side to strengthen in key areas, allowing them to mount a title push.
Dotters says it’s been a busy pre-season for recruitment.
He added: “We’ve signed three lads from St Helens Town - Jimmy Davies, Craig Woods and Liam Gaskell - one from Leigh in Paul Farrar, and Chris Tonge from Liverpool.
“There’s a lad who’s moved from Yorkshire, we’re meeting him for the first time this week, so we’ve recruited really well and strengthened our squad.”
Given the strengthening of the squad, the skipper believes his side can go on and compete at the top this season.
He said: “This year on paper looks a lot stronger than last year - everyone has recruited really well and there seems to be a lot of good overseas knocking about who all pretty much bowl left arm spin.
“It will be a much more competitive season but we’re certainly hopeful that we can push for a spot in the top two, that’s certainly our aim.
“There’s a good four or five teams that could challenge us, we’re not sure what Bootle have done in terms of recruitment but I’m sure they will recruit pretty well.
“Ainsdale will be up there, and Highfield look like they’ll be strong this year, so there’s a good four or five of us that could be up there who will make it really competitive.”
One thing on Rainford’s side is the development of youth, and they have a lot of very good young cricketers able to compete against the best sides in the region.
Dotters added: “We’ve had young Will Curran with us for a few years now, he’s been on to the Comp development course, and he looks like he’s going from strength to strength.
“There’s a couple of young lads who’ve had a good few years in the second XI who will be looking to make the step up in the next year or so, we’ve got a good group of lads around 17 or 18 now who are all keen to play cricket, progress and do well.”
