LAUNCESTON Cricket Club vice-skipper Kevin Worth hopes the Lawhitton-based outfit will be ‘pushing towards the top’ as they look to bounce back from relegation to Division Four East of the Cornwall Cricket League.

After three successive top-half finishes in Division Three, the town outfit endured a tough summer where they won just four matches.

They improved somewhat in the second half, securing home victories over Ladock and Boconnoc and winning at champions Menheniot-Looe, but a lack of wickets and poor starts with the bat ensured they will in the fifth-tier for the first time in their long history.

However, in a division which has plenty of capable sides, securing promotion won’t be easy.

Worth, a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, has relinquished his third team captain role to go back up to the ones on a full-time basis where he had been a mainstay for more than a decade until the last couple of seasons, and will provide guidance and support for 19-year-old son Finlay, who took over midway through last summer from Darren Jenkin who stepped aside for personal reasons.

From last year, wicket-keeper batsman Dan Tilley is staying and with Liam Tilley set to play more than half of the season for the first time in years, runs shouldn’t be a problem.

Reflecting on the 2025 summer, Worth said: “Last year was a tough season for everybody at the club. Losing your captain and most destructive batsman halfway through the season wasn’t ideal.

“Finlay took on the job and did alright, but he had plenty to learn in what was a tough situation.

“We did manage to give some chances to some of the club’s youngsters, although probably a year or so earlier than ideal, but they’ll be another year older.

“Finlay has spent the winter in Australia playing second grade for Albury CC and has been training and learning a lot from a lot of very good cricketers, so the plan is to bring back what he’s learned to help us succeed.”

Worth admits he and Finlay, who will also take on the role of groundsman before heading back out to Albury again next winter, are more worried about giving the team and club the best chance of success.

“At the moment we’ve not had any outgoings which is great as over the last few years we’ve had several which have hit the club”, he continued. “Signings wise we’ve got anything done yet, but we’ve got some old faces coming to nets, so hopefully we should be quite strong.

“We’ll certainly be trying to go back up, but it’s not going to be easy and we also want to bring some of the youth through. But we’re doing some work on refreshing the nets and keeping the infrastructure around the club good.

“Another thing is preparation for matches. We want to make it a bit more structured and just be more prepared for games both during the week and on the day.”

As for the rest of the club, James Theobald continues as second team skipper following a steady year in Division Five, while the thirds will once again compete in Division Seven, looking to bring the juniors through alongside more experienced faces. The club are also set to have more junior coaches available on training nights.

Worth concluded: “We’re in a decent place and looking forward to getting the season started.”