Sidmouth have been dealt a blow with the news that Adam Dibble is set for a couple of weeks on the sidelines after splitting the webbing on his hand.

Dibble was called into action as the 12th man by Somerset and sustained the injury fielding.

Sidmouth skipper Will Murray says: “It’s a blow for Adam, especially to get an injury in the early stages of the season. He’ll recover quickly of that I am sure. For us it’s a case of we’ll call up Harrison Jones for our next game which sees us entertain Cornwood on Saturday.”

Jones played in the opening game of the season, but then stepped down to the 2nds when Dibble was released by Somerset to play for Sidmouth in the derby game with Exmouth last weekend.

Speaking about the Cornwood match, Murray said: “We are looking for a positive start to the season and that generally means winning the first three or four. Having come through the first two and having 38 points on the board is most satisfactory so far. However, I am keen for us to press on and look to make it tough for nay of the teams who want to challenge us and take our title away. Exmouth were one such case. I have no doubt, looking at the quality in their 1st eleven that they are going to have a big say in things this season so to beat them, and in the manner that we did, is a big marker placed for the season ahead. The Francis Clark season is short and sharp in as much after the Cornwood game we are already one sixth of the way through so to it is paramount that we look to continue our healthy start. Complacency should not be an issue as we have plenty of experience in the side. Cornwood came up from a season in the A Division last season so, in that respect, they are an unknown quantity. I see they have won one and lost one, following up a first day seven wicket win over Budleigh with a heavy defeat last weekend to Bovey Tracey. They have an overseas player of quality on Asif Raza who got a healthy unbeaten score under his belt last time out.”

He continued: “For me, each game this season is not about the opposition. I am keen for it to be al about us. To that end I am very confident that if we are all on our game and firing on all cylinders there’ll not be many sides that can last the pace with us this year. We bat to number eleven and showed on Saturday that we have the variety in our bowling to be a force in all conditions.”

Murray did finish with a word of caution, saying: “All that sounds very good, but the bottom line is that you only get out of a game what you put in and we all need to show a level of consistency befitting of champions. There’ll be no slacking up and the master plan is to play powerful positive cricket throughout the season in all competitions.”

Cornwood’s major threat is likely to be their overseas star this season. Twenty-six-year-old Asif Raza hails from Pakistan where he was playing regular first class cricket in Pakistan during our winter. He opens the bowling in the same Lahore Lions team as one of the Cornwood CC previous overseas players, Aizaz Cheema.

Raza operates as an opening bowler, but is also a capable batsmen, with a first class century to his name. He has the unusual combination of being a left handed batsman and right arm bowler.