Phil King on taking over as Garboldisham captain and their hopes for the 2023 Norfolk Cricket Alliance Premier Division season

New Garboldisham captain Phil King is aiming to close the gap on the top-two sides in the Lacons Brewery Norfolk Cricket Alliance Premier Division this season.

King has taken over as skipper at The Langley after long-serving captain Danny Cash stepped down after 16 years in the role at the end of last year’s campaign.

Garby racked up 307 points to finish third in the Premier Division in 2022, and were the best of the rest behind champions Fakenham (377 points) and runners-up Downham Stow (373 points).

Ahead of hosting North Runcton on the opening day tomorrow (12pm), new skipper King says the goal for his side is to try and make inroads into that points deficit behind last season’s top two.

“Danny has been captain for about 16 years and he’s a club legend,” King said. “Everyone knows him round this area and he’s done well for the club.

“He’ll still be playing for the club. I’ve stepped up to the plate this year and we’ll see how things go.

“We done pretty well last year considering we lost some pretty poor games, to be honest.

“We could have had a better season. The first half of the season was pretty good, but the second half of the season was pretty poor.

“Downham and Fakenham were a little bit ahead of most people last year. We’ll see if we can close the gap on them this year.

“We lost twice to Downham last year. They beat us quite comfortably actually, but we beat Fakenham once and lost to them once.

“We’re hoping to close the gap. If we want to win the league or be at the top you’ve got to beat those teams.

“Everyone has strengthened, so it’s going to be quite a hard league.”

Garby have bolstered their squad with several new additions in the off season, including Tom Collishaw (Hethersett & Tas-Valley), Matt Collinge (Bradfield), Charlie Tunstall (Earl Stonham) and Suraj Rajesh, from Australia.

“I think we’ll be quite competitive,” King said. “We’ve brought in four or five new people.

“Tom Collishaw has come in as first-team player coach.

“Matt Collinge has come in as wicket-keeper and young Australian Suraj Rajesh has come from Adelaide as a top-order batter and he will help us with some coaching for our junior section as well.

“Charlie Tunstall has come from the Two Counties League, where he was quite a prolific wicket taker. He should open our bowling and give us some fire power up top.”

King added: “People tend to stay at this club. It’s a well-run club, so people tend not to leave.

“We’re looking quite good, but I think everyone in the league has got new players, so it should be quite a competitive league.

“We’ve brought some players in and that’s what you want is competition for places.

“I’ve been at the club for about five years now. Before that I was at Great Witchingham and Old Buckenham, so I've been about a little bit!”