St Asaph skipper Ryan confident of title push

The city side enjoyed a memorable campaign last term and they have strengthened the squad ahead of their first fixture against 2016 champions Llandudno at Elwy Grove Park on Saturday, April 21.

Captain and top order batsman Ryan revealed that the successful squad remains intact, with overseas star Nathanael Scott looking to make a similar impression on the side in his second season after agreeing a return.

The club has also sealed the signature of Duncan Midgley from Mochdre to improve their batting order, and Ryan is confident his side can emulate their success ahead of what is expected to be another closely fought season throughout.

He said: “I don't think it was a big surprise to us as a team to do pretty well last year.

“We felt we'd underachieved as a side in the years’ previous to going down in 2015 and after a good year winning Division One and still having a pretty young side it was just about us putting together some good team performances which we knew we could do.

"Dunc is our only new signing for this year which is a big plus for us, but also had a couple of lads, Mike Thompson and Rich Marsh-Evans who came over towards the back end of last season, so it'll be their first full season which will be good.

“Our overseas from last season will be returning in the next few weeks for the upcoming season and after finishing strong last year we're hoping he can hit the ground running.”

Ryan also praised the overall strength of the league, with newly promoted sides Northop and Pwllheli set to make an impact, but he is hopeful of gaining similar success with his talented group.

“Expectations for this year would be no different to last year, to try and push as high up the table as we possibly can and hopefully a couple of spots higher than last year,” he added.

“I think the two teams that have come up, Northop and Pwllheli are both good sides so the league will be competitive.”