Walsham-le-Willows captain confident his side are capable of beating anyone

The unknown elements are plentiful, but captain Liam Bryant is hopeful his Walsham-le-Willows side will prove to be competitive in 2021.

Having had no league cricket to play last year due to Covid-19, one of Bryant’s major concerns is that players across all teams may have found other things to occupy their time and minds.

He has also not added any new faces to his squad ahead of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship Division Three opener at Felixstowe & Corinthians tomorrow (12.30pm), with some younger and less experienced players potentially getting the chance to prove themselves.

Nevertheless, Bryant still feels he will have a team capable of racking up plenty of good results over the coming months.

“Hopefully most of the players are still keen to play and have not found something else,” he said.

“You never know because a lot has changed for people in the last 12 months or so.

“We’ll get our boys together and see where that takes us.

“There are no newbies so there could be a few people getting a game that perhaps haven’t played much in the past.

“There are some good youngsters at the club and while it is probably too soon for them in senior cricket, if any of them show signs they can make the step up, we’ll give them the chance.

“It’s going to be an interesting season and I’ll be happy if we win more games than we lose.

“I still think that we’re good enough to beat anyone on our day. There’s no reason we can’t beat any of the sides.”

One player that Walsham will have to do without is Australian all-rounder Ben de Carvalho, who since impressing for the club in 2019, has returned to his homeland.

It’s a big loss, but Bryant is now looking for others to stand up.

“Ben went back towards the end of 2019 and he has left big shoes to fill,” added Bryant.

“Now other people in the team need to step up – myself included in that – to score his runs and take his wickets.”