LUCKETT first team captain, Ryan Brown, hopes his side can improve their away form as they look to build on last year’s third-placed finish in Division Two East of the Cornwall Cricket League.

The village outfit won 14 and lost six of their 22 league games in 2018, but five of those defeats came on the road at the likes of St Austell seconds, Bude and Tideford.

Their Chapel Field home is known as one of the highest scoring grounds in the county with its tiny straight boundaries the source of dozens of sixes each season.

However when they travel to bigger venues where batting is more of a challenge, Brown, 21, admits they need to curb their natural game a bit more.

He said: “Our batting just doesn’t seem to perform away from home like it does at home. We were rolled over by St Austell, Bude and St Minver away from home last year as well as being 50 odd for four away to Tideford before managing to get 200, bowled out for 161 down at Newquay and didn’t get a massive score against Menheniot-Looe, although we won because we bowled and fielded the best we did all season!

“I just think we’ve got a team of players who like to get going and don’t try and get used to the surface before playing shots. I also think we’re used to playing on a top-class deck at home but when we go away it can be very different. For example, Bude was very slow, but in contrast, St Minver was one of the quickest decks I’ve ever played on!

“We need to try and take more time at the crease to get used to conditions or also maybe make slight changes to the order if a collapse starts to happen. Half of the reason I couldn’t do that is because often I was still in when the collapse was happening, but also the players need to take it upon themselves to bat time if we start collapsing, like Marc Brown and Jack Sleep did at home to Bude last year. We were about 80-1 and ended up 100-7 and they managed to bat for a long time and get us to 229 and ended up winning the game.

“We’ve just got to try and take some of our home form away from home this year, we are a good enough team to do it, just doing it is a different story, but that’s the aim!”

While Brown is in charge for a third successive year, he believes his squad still have plenty of improvement in them.

He said: “I’m staying as captain because I don’t feel like this team has reached the level we could have over the last few years. We’ve been there and there abouts but never ultimately been a massive threat to the top teams in the division. We’ve finished fourth and third in my two years as captain but the drop off from the promoted sides has probably been because of our away record over the last couple of years. I also don’t feel like It’s a chore captaining these bunch of lads, they’re a great bunch of boys who all get on great as a side.”

Although bowler Robert Piper has left the club, Brown has been boosted by the regular availability of Andrew Hoskin and is closing in on a player.

He said: “Andrew Hoskin is back playing every game which is basically a new signing with his ability coming in at number five. He just makes the batting line-up stable. I’m also looking at a couple of options and am in contact with a couple of players.

With three Eastern teams in Newquay, Roche and St Erme all coming down from County Division One and Wadebridge seconds and Saltash Town promoted from Division Three, the league looks the strongest it has in a number of years, leaving Brown excited for their opener at Bude on Saturday, April 20.

He said: “I’m really looking forward to playing in Division Two this year, and with the relegated sides and promoted sides looking strong, it only makes for a better league. Certain games last year were a bit pointless and now looking at the fixture list you can’t point out a game and say it’s an ‘easy game’, so it will make for a better standard of cricket and improvement for all the players.

“I think our aim will be much the same as last year and that’s to win as many games as possible and see where it gets us, but I would still say our batting line-up is probably best in the league on their day.”

The seconds also enjoyed a much happier time last summer back in Division Four East.

After a couple of difficult years in the league above, they secured a more than respectable sixth-placed finish and were only six points off fourth, a spot they would probably have occupied if it hadn’t been for availability issues towards the end of the campaign.

Long-serving captain Ian Roberts has relinquished the role after 11 years with his great mate Steve Brown taking the reigns.

However Brown isn’t best pleased with the fixture reduction after the division was reduced from 12 teams to ten.

He said: “I took on the captaincy to keep the second team going. I think the ten team leagues are a mistake, if we get a bad summer we may only play half of these games and it also affects the revenues of the smaller clubs. My goals are to continue running a second eleven, enjoy my cricket and all my team mates, we may not be the best but we really enjoy the crack. However we did rely quite heavily on the loan system last season, and I can’t see it being much different this year.”

Other important club news sees Don Brown step down as chairman after 40 years to be replaced by Andy Williams, while the club don’t anticipate any new facilities at the moment.