RYAN?Pooley has been appointed as the new first team captain of Tintagel Cricket Club.

The 21-year-old all-rounder replaces opening bowler Jason Seldon, who’s stepped down after four and a half years in charge to focus on his teacher training course.

Pooley, who has spent the last four summers at Butts Field since joining from Delabole, has been in Australia this winter playing for Port Elliot Cricket Club, near Adelaide, in the Great?Southern Cricket Association A Grade competition where he managed to score 346 runs in all competitions at an average of 21.6, including 109 against Mount Compass as well as contributing 15 wickets with his brisk seamers.

However with the Australian season now finished after they failed to make the end of season finals, Pooley will return home on April 4 to get ready to lead the North Cornwall coast club in their bid to win promotion from Division Three East of the LWC Drinks Cornwall?Cricket League.

Pooley admits that he wasn’t initially sure whether he’d like the extra responsibility, but can’t wait for his first game in charge at?Saltash Town on Saturday,?April 21.

He said: “Jason and I spoke early last season and he said it was going to be his last season as captain. I was sort of 50/50 on whether I’d like to take it on when we spoke, but as the season went on and Jason was absent for a couple of games, I took over and I thought it was something that I’d really like to do. I just loved the extra challenge of it all and enjoyed the leadership aspect of it and having to be proactive when it comes to making decisions.

“So as the season finished and Jason stepped down, I put my name forward and I got a message after the AGM to say I’ve got it, so I’m delighted.”

After romping to the Division Four East title in 2016 without losing a game, Tintagel were on course for back-to-back promotions as they started last season brilliantly, not losing until June 3.

However a failure to get a consistent 11, coupled with six defeats from their next seven completed games, meant that they finished fifth, 48 points behind second-placed Ladock.

Despite that, Pooley has set himself some demanding targets.

He said: “I think I will be an aggressive captain. In the field I’ll be looking to take wickets and not change too much if there are one or two boundaries. I also like to think I have a pretty cool head when I’m on the cricket field, so I’ll be quite relaxed.

“I am looking for promotion as we had a good side last year and just had a few silly results, which I aim to stamp out. We have an overseas player, who is a bowling all-rounder coming back with me too, so he’ll play a key role in our upcoming season, but I can’t say who it is yet as it’s not been confirmed.”

Pooley is also hoping to get the better second team players involved on a regular basis as well as tightening up in both the batting and bowling departments.

He said: “Last year there was some careless batting in places and we didn’t always bowl to our plans. We also had some bad decisions go against us but we didn’t have a consistent side last year.

“We usually had a solid seven or eight then the rest were a bit of a mix and match so I aim to include the better second team players if and when they are needed.”

With a strong first choice 11, which includes the likes of key all-rounder Geoff Uglow and opening batsman Simon Harrison, Pooley isn’t too worried if he can’t make any signings.

He said: “Everybody who I’ve spoken to so far all are keen to play and we’ll have Simon Fry back in the side after missing last season with a knee injury. We haven’t signed anyone yet but we’ll see what we can come up with before the start of the season.”

Pooley expects plenty of competition for the title and is particularly wary of Wadebridge seconds, who are likely to be boosted by the inclusion of a couple of first teamers from last year after winning promotion to the ECB Cornwall Premier League.

He said: “I’ve heard that Wadebridge will be strong this year with their first team strengthening like it has.

“South Petherwin have came down and I don’t know a lot about them while I also think that Duloe, who have came up, could cause some trouble with the likes of Aaron Conway, who has scored lots of runs consistently in the last few years and Ed Facey, who took lots of wickets last season.

“But I think it will be between us and Wadebridge, although Saltash are always strong on their day and will go close.”

Pooley also took time to reflect on his Australian adventure and admits that it’s been ‘very enjoyable’.

He said: “There was some poor organisation in Australia which people weren’t aware of which means that I haven’t been able to work much and I’ve had to rely on my parents for money, which I’ve been extremely grateful for.

“But the season itself has been very enjoyable and there’s a great club atmosphere.

“Unfortunately I had a couple of niggles which meant that I couldn’t bowl much but I managed to score over 300 runs which was okay. As a player I’ve learned to bat more time as games are played over 70-over days and I’ve been working with one of the opening bowlers here to help me control the ball when it’s swinging.

“Away from cricket, my parents came over for three weeks in January, where we spent a lot of time sightseeing, going to wildlife parks and at the beach.

“I also managed to get to a couple of the Ashes Test matches in Adelaide and the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, which were both great experiences.

“I have a few weeks left over here where I’ll be doing some umpiring but I’m already looking forward to coming home and preparing for a big season at Tintagel.”