The new cricket season is just over a week away and a teenage talent has made a superb early impression at Ottery St Mary Cricket Club.
Jonathan Triner has enjoyed a highly-impressive pre-season and first-team captain Alex Clements is embracing a campaign of changing faces at Strawberry Lane.
Ottery begin their league season against Exeter 2nds and a fascinating journey begins for a club looking to build a new story after their recent recruitment drive.
“We lost our young batsman Lawrence Walker to Sandford and another of our top four batters is doing a placement at Worcestershire CC, so an opportunity of others to make the step up to first-team cricket,” said Clements.
“We’ve had three pre-season games so far and there have been some positive performances, most notably young Jonathan Triner, who we’ve bumped up to opener, and he’s scored 81 not out and 58 in two games.
“Jonathan is just 14 years-old and opening is very new to him, so it’s been a big step. He looks ready and we’re excited to see how he develops.
“I managed to get some ugly runs myself. I opened with Jonathan and we put on around 120 for the first wicket against Whimple.
“We lost the game by 40 runs but our opening stand was proper chalk and cheese, as Jonathan batted beautifully, while I hacked my way to 63.
“We’ve done a lot of recruitment and around 10 new faces at the club, some of whom are returning to cricket after years away from the game.
“Matt Walker-Jones has joined the club and already looks really handy, although he sadly pulled his hamstring on Sunday, so his start to the season will be delayed.
“It will be interesting to see how the league shapes and a step into the unknown. We played Exeter 2nds at home on May 1 and that first game of the year is always difficult to gauge.”
The Otters are always looking for new members in the men, women and junior side of the club – visit their website for more information.