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2006 Season Preview

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Camborne	Falmouth	Grampound Road	Hayle
Newquay	St. Just	Truro	Werrington
Western Morning News Preview
County Division 1

The mixture of 'time' and' overs' games has been dropped by clubs after just one season. However, after the withdrawals last year of Menheniot and Helston, the reduction to an eight team league has been maintained, and ECB approved. It means, with teams playing each other three times, a more suitable 21 game season with no byes or Sunday fixtures. All games are 110 over 'Time' with 1pm starts throughout the season. Apart from May Day Monday there is a full set of games each Saturday and Bank Holiday Monday until September 2nd. There is a change to the league table format for 2006 with no points now being awarded for games cancelled without a ball being bowled. The league placings will be determined on average points from matches actually started. Callington have been relegated and replaced by County Division 1 Champions Hayle.

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2006 Season Club Previews

CAMBORNE

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FALMOUTH

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GRAMPOUND ROAD

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HAYLE

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NEWQUAY

ST. JUST

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TRURO

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WERRINGTON

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County Division 1

Western Morning News preview by Mike Barlow

ST JUST skipper Gareth May believes his team is now more powerful than last season's all-conquering squad. That's bad news for the other seven teams in the Cornwall Premier League, none of whom were able to really stretch the far West club last season as they retained the league title by a record winning margin of 83 points. And on the eve of the new season, May has sets his sights on a cup and league double for the third year in succession. However, the 2005 season was severely disrupted by atrocious weather early in the programme and the defection from the league of Helston and Menheniot. Now, with a new format in place and the weather unlikely to be quite as bad, May's rivals will be able to concentrate on the cricket. St Just start the new campaign without all-rounder Hayden Spieling, who has returned to New Zealand, but have recruited another Kiwi, 24-year-old Dewayne Bowden from Wellington, a left-arm fast bowler and middle-order batsman. Wicket-keeper batsman Gavin Edwards has signed from Penzance with Darren Cudby moving in the opposite direction. ''To be honest I think we're stronger than last year,'' said May. ''Gavin Edwards played for St Buryan before Penzance so he has Premiership experience and is a good player. We're grateful to have him. The rest of the squad is intact and we're confident. The aim is to complete the double again.'' It's hard to see a weakness in the St Just line-up. Opening batsmen Dave Roberts and Neil Curnow topped the league standings last season with both men averaging a remarkable 58. Roberts' 877 runs were the most scored by any player while his partner's 580 runs came off just 12 innings. Gary Thomas, Mark George and May complete an outstanding top order On the bowling front, all-rounder George led the way at the top of the league's bowling averages - an exceptional feat for an off spinner - and there is plenty of pace in the attack through Nick George, Graham Trenwith, Robert Clackworthy and the new arrival from New Zealand.

Truro ran St Just closest last season but were hard-pressed to hang on their runners-up spot in the closing stages. The Boscawen Park line-up is largely unchanged and although county batsmen Ben Price and Alex Tunnadine may not always be unavailable due to teaching and university commitments, all -rounder Jon Kent has recovered from a long-standing shoulder injury. County skipper Tom Sharp will again take much of the responsibility with both bat and ball and has fewer bowling options this time following the departure of spinner Kris Subramanian.

Camborne were the new arrivals in 2005 following promotion from County Division One and were highly successful. Under the captaincy of Malcolm Pooley they seemed set for a high finish but a string of poor results in the closing weeks saw them lose momentum and they finish sixth. Camborne have made several significant signings during the close season, including that of Cornwall wicket-keeper Karl Turner. Camborne's gain is Troon's loss as the Beacon player had been heading for a paid role at Treslothan Road before opting to play his cricket in the Premiership. ''We kept the door open and he walked through it,'' said Pooley, whose batting options have been further broadened by the acquisition of the club's first Cricket Development Officer, South African Bronwell Williams and David Pascoe, who returns to the club from Helston after an absence of several years, having taken a year off last year. There has been a fair amount of movement at Roskear and among the departures are Tim Edwards, who has returned to his first club, Rosudgeon, and overseas player Jono Hall. Richard Moore and Martin Woolcock have joined from Praze while talented young all-rounder Daniel Stephens makes the short move from Redruth. Pooley will be relieved that leading wicket-taker Dominic Bostock, whose injury last season coincided with the team's slide down the table, is back to full fitness and will again spearhead the attack. ''We tried to bring some youngsters through last year and they will be getting their chance this time,'' added Pooley.

Werrington were the surprise package in the previous campaign and pushed Truro hard before settling for third place, just six points adrift. Nigel Dennis has stepped down as captain after guiding the club through their most successful season in the league. He is replaced by young all-rounder Ben Smeeth with fast bowler Darren Johns taking over as vice captain. The north Cornwall village club owed much of their success to teamwork and that is likely to continue with the whole squad of locally based players still in place. Young batter Matt Robins is already into the runs, completing his half century for Cornwall Under-21 in the recent match against the county senior XI.

Newquay finished fifth last time and have been strengthened by the arrival from Australia of Steve Mason. The 24-year-old left-handed batsman has been playing Grade cricket in Perth and boosts the club's potent batting line up with Barry Purchase and Tim Walton again at its core. Medium pacer Jon Wills has joined from Grampound Road and the club are expecting big things from young Somerset Academy all-rounder Dan Davis. Skipper Rob Harrison finished second in the Premier League's bowling averages last season and will lead the team's seam attack with Godfrey Furse his counterpart in the slow bowling department. Harrison believes Newquay are regarded as one of the league underdogs but said: ''We'll be competitive. Perennial underachievers

Falmouth finished fourth last season and skipper Sean Hooper will be hoping that this time the club's abundant playing resources will be reflected in results. Former County batter Steve Williams returns after being unavailable for the best part of two years while former Essex player Duncan Ayres will be fully available and will provide Hooper with valuable all-round options, as well as taking over the vice captaincy. Ryan Edwards, Cornwall under-17 player and younger brother of Somerset star Neil has joined from Paul, and is one of several young players in the Falmouth squad with the potential to go on to bigger things - all-rounders Anthony Angove and Stefan Churcher most certainly falling into that category and both have been included in Cornwall's squad to play Devon at Trescobeas tomorrow. Seamer Matt Woods has signed from the Birmingham League and Adrian Noott is likely to keep wicket this season.

Newcomers this season are Hayle, whose abilities cannot be discounted after clinching promotion from a very competitive County Division One . The north coast club have been regrouping after five years away from Premier League cricket and have added South African medium pacer Ryan Colyn and New Zealand all-rounder Thom Berry to the squad and with Lee Caddy back to full fitness will be looking to make an early impression. David Aunger captains the side with Paul Lello his deputy.

Grampound Road look short in the fast bowling department, where Malcolm Hooper will be unavailable for the first part of the season and Jon Wills has moved to Newquay. Skipper Chris Hunkin and Chris Roberts are likely to form the new-ball partnership and although there are medium pace options in the squad, Hunkin will be looking for major contributions from a veritable arsenal of off-spinners. Martin Pearce and young Jamie Trudgeon can turn the ball and, remarkably, there are two left-armers jostling for position - Matt Coult, Ben Rowse On his batting resources, Hunkin said: ''We will be asking some of our youngsters to come through but our five or six really senior players need to contribute. ''We've all played to a good standard for quite a while and we need them to get big runs. Those heavy hitters include Pearce, Martin Roberts, Kris Harris and wicketkeeper Pete Davey.

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