The season gets underway in Norfolk!

The Rams begin the defence of their EAPL title with a tricky trip to Swardeston. History has shown that whoever finishes above Swardeston, the seven-time winners of the competition, will be in with a good shout of winning the title.

Over the past few years Swardeston have been the model of consistency both in terms of the quality of their play and the composition of the key members of their impressive squad. So, they find themselves in the unusual position of starting this season without two of their stars Joe Gatting and Stephen Gray, the former emigrating to Australia and the latter being a returning ‘migrant’ to Fakenham. It is likely that another key player, Peter Lambert, will also be missing on Saturday as he plays for Gorleston FC, who are in a Man City V Liverpool type battle royal, as they attempt to lift the Thurlow Nunn (Eastern Counties League) title ahead of local rivals Wroxham FC. Fortunately, Dan and our other footballing cricketers have already secured their promotion from division 35s of the Cambs league!

Although it is the Rams second visit to Swardeston we hope we will not suffer the same monsoon conditions that greeted us on our last visit. Hopefully the brief visit last year will help us to deal with the unique shape of The Common ground located to South East of Norwich. It is not all bad news for Swardeston’s new skipper, Lewis Denmark, as the visitors will have one familiar face to deal with, as Saranga Rajaguru has joined them this year. Many of the Sawston side would have locked horns with the Sri Lankan pro when he represented March for a few seasons. He is a talented leggie and batsman. They also have a returnee with EAPL pedigree as Ben Shearing has re-joined them. The visitors will be pleased with their pre-season form and performances, and happy that all the players have shaken off the winter cobwebs.

Skipper Dan Heath was hoping to have a full-strength squad to choose from, but the delay in the issuing of visas means that Saturday’s curtain raiser has come too early for Peter Hatzoglou, meaning that Saranga will be the only leg spinner on show. Even without the Aussie, the Rams have new signings Nathan Buck and Callum McLean, and their own returnee Luke Spears in the match day squad.

They will also feel that they have other new signings in Noah Thain, Tim Moses, Charlie Lewis and George Darlow who all missed big chunks of last season. Non-the-less it will still be strange to watch them start an innings without either Matthew Hague or Waqas Hussain.