Sitting Down with Our Club Captain

We were fortunate enough to have an opportunity to chat with 1st XI skipper Cameron ahead of the 2024 season.

So Cam, as the new season is approaching and you’re stepping into your new role as Club and first XI captain, we just wanted to get to know you a little more and share with members what we have to look forward to as we head into the new season.

That’s fair enough, so, I’m Cam, I’m the incoming captain this year for the 1st XI. I joined the club back in 2021 but I’ve been playing cricket since I was about eight years old, all the way through both university and county cricket. Though I did stop for a while between graduating from university and joining Irby.

It seems like you’ve got quite a lot of experience playing at a variety of levels, what kind of player have you become as a result and how do you think all that is going to translate into your captaincy this season?

Honestly I’ve always been a bit of an all-rounder in one way or another, but over the past few years since joining the club I’ve found myself becoming more of a batsman. This has allowed me to move up the order to an opening spot and sidelining the bowling a little bit. 

I know last season was a difficult one for the club in terms of performance, but hopefully I can utilise the experience I have and encourage us to push on this year. It would be great to replicate that run of form we had towards the close of the season last summer.

You mentioned last year, where we of course ended up being relegated - does that losing mindset concern you going into this year? What are your goals looking like for the season?

Obviously it was gutting for us to go down a league last season, nobody wants that, but you know that’s last season, we’ve got to focus on this season and on us as a team and a club getting back to where we believe we’re meant to be.

So is that the goal for the season, promotion?

Of course it is, our goal for the season is to win that league and get promoted.

Do you think it’s realistic? How do the rest of the team feel about it?

It definitely is realistic. It would be wrong of me to say that there won’t be any challenges for us this season, you know, you’ve got to take each game and each team as they come and you can’t underestimate anyone at all, but I firmly believe we can gain that promotion spot come the end of the season. 

As for the boys, we had a great atmosphere in the team last season and we want to bring this same approach to the new league. I think everyone is excited for the new season, we always are, but there’s definitely a hunger for us to go out there, as a team and as individuals, to prove ourselves and win the title. 

Are there any personal goals you’ve got for this season?

Of course, I think it would be daft for me not to set myself goals for the season. I think we should all be doing that and I want to lead by example, so I want to contribute more with the bat this season. I average around 30 runs and I know batting depth was a department that was lacking for us last year. Hopefully the new faces that we’ve got coming into the club as well can help us bolster that attack.

Do you think all these targets you’re setting the team and yourself are ambitious, or more realistic?

No, these goals are 100% realistic. We belong in the Liverpool comp leagues and that’s where we’re going to fight to be this season. We’re going to be training like a first team is meant to train and preparing for each individual game as diligently as possible. Then we’re going to walk out onto that field each Saturday and we’re going to fight like it’s an elimination game. We’re going to show them what we’ve got and we’re going to come out on top.