DEFENDING ECB Cornwall Premier League champions Werrington have announced that Australian bowling all-rounder Jono Baldock is to return for a second season at Ladycross.

Baldock, 25, made a telling contribution last summer, taking 34 wickets across all first team competitions, including five-wicket hauls against Wadebridge and St Just, as well as contributing nearly 300 runs from the lower middle-order.

And skipper Paul Smith is looking for more of the same from the Queenslander.

He said: “It’s great to be going into the season with exactly the same squad as last year, and obviously coming off the back of winning the league, all the boys will be working together to achieve the same goal again.

“Jono contributed with plenty of wickets last season and won the bowling trophy at the end of season awards, so obviously his contribution went a long way towards winning the league and he would have been a massive hole to fill with bat and ball, so its great to have him back.

“We did have a look at other options, but the fact that Jono was keen to come back made our decision an easy one, and he’ll be returning for the final year of his two-year visa!”

Baldock has spent the Australian summer playing for Surfers Paradise Cricket Club in the Gold Coast Ltd First Grade competition, although Smith believes he’s far better in the Northern Hemisphere.

He said: “Jono’s been playing most weeks and doing okay but his bowling suits English conditions far more as a swing bowler than Australian conditions.”

Baldock is also delighted to be returning to North Cornwall.

He said: “I was absolutely stoked to be asked by Werrington CC to return for the 2019 summer, I can’t wait to don the baggy maroon again.

“Ladycross feels like a second home for me now so deciding on coming back was easy.

“As a team we obviously want to win games of cricket and will take plenty of momentum into 2019 on the back of last year’s success. I believe we’re going to continue to play the positive brand of cricket we did through 2018 and hopefully the same results will follow.

“On a personal note, I’ve just been trying to stay consistent each game and execute my role as best I can. I’d love to further push my case for ‘all-rounder’ status, but taking wickets is my focus.”

A change to the Cornwall Cricket calendar has seen the introduction of a new T20 tournament over the first four Saturdays of the season for the ten Premier League clubs, and Smith is looking to keep their opponents guessing.

He said: “We’ve got the T20 at the start of the year and I’ve had a chat with the lads and we’re going to be very flexible with regards to the batting and bowling orders, purely because I feel that with playing the same team twice on the same day, if you keep everything the same, it gives the opposition an advantage in the second game.

“We’re lucky to have a top seven who can go in any order, so we’ll be looking to make the most of that flexibility.”

Smith is also set to stick with the formulas that proved successful in the league in second half of last summer, when they edged out Penzance by a solitary point for their fourth title in seven years.

He added: “We went through a stage last year of having Ben Smeeth and Adam Hodgson opening the batting and their job was to see off the new ball in the first 10/15 overs. Then we had Mini (Matt Robins), myself and Gribby (Mark Gribble) to come in in any order and increase the run-rate which worked really well.

“Bowling wise, we’re lucky to have four seamers who are able to open the bowling and stalwart Ian Worsnip came into his own in the last five games of the season and kept it tight at one end which made it easier for the likes of Tom Dinnis, Sam Hockin and Jono to attack at the other end.

“The seamers are always well backed up by 20 overs of spin each week by Ben (Smeeth) and Adam (Hodgson).”

During the opening four weeks when the T20 is played, Worsnip will be getting ready for their title defence in the second team.

Smith said: “We see Snippy as much more of a threat with the red ball than the pink ball, so hopefully he can warm-up with the red ball in our seconds in County One, and it’ll also be good to give a youngster a chance in the T20s.”

With just 37 days to go before their opener against Callington at Ladycross, Smith is hoping for a better turnout at nets before their two pre-season friendlies.

He said: “We started nets slightly later than usual due to the availability of the hall at Launceston College but we’re now back into the swing of things.

“We’ve had a fairly decent turnout, but as always we are looking to get more faces to training as it’s the usual suspects who attend before our two pre-season friendlies, which are both against Devon sides.

“We’ve got North Devon at Instow on April 6 and Bradninch away on April 13. Hopefully the weather will be a lot drier than it was last year before the start, and they go ahead.

“North Devon play in the Premier so they’ll prove a strong threat, but hopefully we can travel up there with a strong enough team to give them a good game and Bradninch play in the A Division after relegation. We know that they have a few good players, so it’ll be nice to have a good challenge against them as well.”