With the first weekend of pre season fixtures finally out of the way and the first game of the Thames Valley League under two weeks away, the squads are now starting to take shape. There have been a few new acquisitions over the winter months, including a couple of familiar faces returning to the club after time away as well as a Sri Lankan overseas player.

The first new player to report is batting all-rounder Patrick Castleden who has made the move back to his home club after one season playing in the Home Counties Premier league with High Wycombe. Patrick will vice-captain the side. This is a huge boost to the club due to Castleden's very consistently strong performances in club cricket for a number of years. The side will also benefit from his experience of Minor Counties cricket with Buckinghamshire, for whom he was the leading run-scorer in 2017 in the longer format.

Chris Marrow has also returned from his native South Africa this summer for a second season at the club. He will keep wicket and bat top order yet again and will look to continue where he left off after some fine form in the second half of last year. Chris has experience playing first class cricket for the South West Districts in South Africa and we are very fortunate to have a player of this quality in our ranks.

Joining us this week from Sri Lanka is 22 year old Sahan Nanayakkara. Sahan is a high quality left arm spinner and comes across from Colombo with some impressive cricketing pedigree. He will act as a direct replacement for Tapiwa Mafudza who was our Zimbabwean overseas player from last season and sadly won't be returning. Sahan plays first class cricket with Ragama CC and has also been in the Sri Lankan emerging players squad. This will be his first season in the UK, so he is looking forward to the challenge of playing in a new environment while the club are also looking forward to hosting an overseas from Sri Lanka for the first time.

We also have Rory Millar returning to the club after five years away. In that time, Rory has played his club cricket in Devon whilst living and working in Exeter. As a top order batsmen, who was a key member of the first team side in the early days of the Thames Valley League, he has been elected by second team captain Richard Lucas as his vice skipper but may play some first team if opportunities arise.

The final new player to report is Ulsterman Jonny Parker who is new to the area. Having played the vast majority of his cricket for Bangor in Northern Ireland, Jonny joins us with vast experience of the game and is likely to be a welcome addition to the already strong first team batting line-up.

We are however unfortunate to have lost a few players to other clubs. Yash Rastogi, who performed well in the first team top order last season (particularly in the light of Castleden's absence) has moved on to Harefield in the Home Counties Division Two, while opening bowler Faaez Shamsi has moved on to local neighbours North Maidenhead. Young Kieran Devereux, who has played predominantly in the thirds, has also moved on to High Wycombe but is still expected to play for the club in cup competitions. We wish all these players the best success at their new clubs.

We are looking forward to what will hopefully be a successful and enjoyable at Ricketts Field.