WERRINGTON skipper Paul Smith admits his side are ‘now in a great position’ as they look to win the ECB Cornwall Premier League for the first time since 2015.

The Ladycross outfit start their final five fixtures on Saturday at home to Callington (1pm) in second-place, following five consecutive wins, which have seen them shoot into title contention.

However, their hopes were given a massive boost on Saturday without them even having to step on the field as it was their turn to have a bye due to Hayle pulling out of the division just a few weeks before the start of the season.

The dreadful weather across the Duchy meant that leaders Penzance could only pick up six points from their cancellation at home to Wadebridge, which was the second time rain has been the big winner between them this summer, while third-placed Truro could only get to 102-2 off 22.2 overs at home to St Austell when the weather finally brought proceedings to a halt.

As a result, Smith’s men now know that if they win their remaining games they will be crowned champions.

They sit eight points behind Penzance, who have played a game more, while Truro, who have played the same amount of games as Werrington, are 11 points further back.

To make things even tastier, the North Cornwall club have four of their fixtures to play at Ladycross, including the visits of Truro on Bank Holiday Monday (August 27) and Penzance on the penultimate weekend (September 1) of the season.

Smith admits that the squad were buzzing by Saturday’s events, but knows there’s plenty of hard work to do.

He said: “We’re now in a great position which we’d certainly have taken before.

“We were all doing a rain dance praying that the weather would do us a favour, but in the grand scheme of things, our first game of the season at Falmouth was called off and a couple of other teams played, so I think it’s balanced itself out.

“Also if you look at the table, we’ve won the most games, so I think we’re deserving of our spot in the title race!

“However, it’s a new challenge for us. Compared to previous years when we’ve won it, we went into those years as favourites from the start, whereas this year it’s been hard to see past Penzance and Truro, so it’s a nice surprise to be up there and holding the advantage.

“Penzance were expected to win it so I think it’s hard for us not to get a bit giddy as we’re holding pole position, but there’s a lot of cricket to be played and we still have the two teams around us to play.”

With Penzance having their bye this week, Smith is desperate to pick up maximum points and move 12 points clear.

He said: “We know that the weather could play a massive part in the run-in. We hope that we can play on Saturday and pick up the 20 points. It won’t feel real until we get ahead!”

Since being hammered by nine wickets at Truro at the end of June, Werrington have comfortably defeated Redruth, Wadebridge and Camborne at Ladycross as well as winning close contests at Grampound Road and old rivals St Just in their last encounter, which saw the North Cornwall side recover from 85-8 to make 174 with Mark Gribble making 96, before bowling the home side out for 142.

And Smith believes that the fight shown by his players is key.

“Mark was outstanding at St Just. We bat from one to 11 and even Snippy (Ian Worsnip) at 11 has been known to win the odd game for us. We’ve got an unbelievable confidence in each man and that will take us to a winning score or target!

“Our batters are hitting form at the right time. Mark has been outstanding in the last few weeks and we’ve got a handy mix of experience and youth in our batting with the likes of Ben Smeeth and Adam Hodgson opening up. They set the foundation for the quicker scorers to come in and set a high target or provide the impetus when chasing to get the target.

“On the bowling front, Tom Dinnis is full of confidence and has been bowling for Cornwall while Ben Smeeth has been taking the new ball for us and has been our strike bowler.

“In the field, after the close ones we’ve won, we’ve got a never-say-die attitude and we believe that we can win any game we play!“

With four of their five fixtures at Ladycross, a place they haven’t yet lost at in 2018, Smith believes his side have a massive advantage.

He said: “Nobody likes playing away from home. When we went to Grampound Road, who are scrapping away at the bottom, they put us in a bit of strife but it was nice to still come away with the win. So being at home, we consider Ladycross to be a bit of a fortress. We take great pride in performing well in front of our own crowd on our home ground, so going forward, as always, we’ll have the confidence to contribute big performances in the big games to stay as title challengers!”

With just one awkward away trip to go at in-form St Austell next Saturday before three home games to finish, mistakes now will prove costly as Smith knows too well.

He said: “We’ve worked hard throughout the season to get in this position, but now we’re entering the business end of the season and this is where you separate the men from the boys.

“We know we’ll have to put in the perform­ances we have been if we want to win it.”

Everybody in the team apart from overseas player Jono Baldock and ex-Cornwall captain Matthew Robins were around when they last won it in 2015, but Smith is just focused on the remaining fixtures.

He said: “It’s always handy to have experience in these situations but whether you’ve won it before or not, you can’t think about it.

“We know how hard it is to do it. Every year we’ve won it it’s gone to the last game, so even though we’re five games out and we’re right up there, in two games time we could be right out of it. So I think at this point we need to play the teams in front of us and continue playing the cricket which has served us so well in getting us into the position we’re in.”