Andy Kellett preview on St Annes 2012 campaign
St Annes captain Andy Kellett receiving The Northern League Trophy from David Sykes
following his teams success in 2011) |
I recently conducted an interview with St Annes captain Andy Kellett, he will be looking ahead to the new season and talking about his aims and aspirations for the new campaign.
1 - After your league success from last season what are your aims for the new campaign?
"Obviously we want to try and retain our title. It's something we've not been able to do in the past. We also want to do better in the cups. Apart from getting to the Semi Final of the Readers Cup last year we've been fairly unsuccessful in the cups for a few years now. "
2 - St Annes have had alot of success over the years, how difficult is to sustain the success and challenge every season?. In other words is it harder being defending champions, than it is being challengers?. or is it the same?
"I don't think it's any different although as I've said we've not been able to retain our titles. We just try and play one game at a time and see where it gets us.Whether you've won it the year before or not the challenge of going for another title is always there.
3 - Dinuk is back as professional for another season, maybe im asking an obvious question, but what qualities does he bring to the team?
"Dinuk is a fantastic bowler. He bowls a lot of overs for us which suits us as apart from Dinuk we have a young bowling team who are all learning the game. Dinuk bowling so many overs makes it easier for them.
He's also a great Pro around the team and with the juniors. We are hoping he might score a few runs this season as well!"
4 - After winning the league last season, what do you think were the decisive moments in your success, and also looking back at last year what areas do you as a team need to improve on for the new campaign?
"I think we had a few decisive games where we were out of the games but still managed to win. We always fight to the end and have a great team spirit and it showed at times. Games at Fleetwood, Kendal, Barrow and Lancaster we looked like we were going to lose but managed 15 point wins in all the games.
We can't rely on that happening again and therefore definitely need to be more consistent with our batting. We had too many bad days with the bat last year and got away with it so we need to improve on that."
5 - Every season the teams get stronger , who do you think will be in the running for the league and cups? and is their a particular team that stands out for the new campaign?
"I think last year was a really strong league, this year will be the same. There are alot of teams who will quite rightly fancy their chances.
I think a lot will depend on the new Pros in the league as to who is going to up there. However, there is no doubt that Leyland will be very strong. They are an excellent side, they have a very good Pro, Luis Reece is a fine player and they are well led by David Makinson so they will be tough to beat.
Barrow, Morecambe and Netherfield have all made good amateur signings so will be strong as well this year but as I said it's a strong league and anyone can beat anyone on their day so it's going to be a very competitive year"
6 - Hows your squad shaping up for the new season? any new players? any departures? any emerging players coming into the side?,
" Ben Dowling has gone to Gt Harwood which is a blow for us. Youngster Callum Jones who is at University locally has joined us from Keighley CC in the Bradford League and looks a good player.
Apart from that we will be similar to last year. However, Charles Boucher will be with us full time this year (he missed most of 2011 with an injury) so that will be like having a new player. Charles is one of the best amateur batsman in the league so I'm hoping for a big season from him.
Last season we had a number of Under 19's playing regularly for us (Matt Grindley, Ben Willis, Nanthesh Kiruparan, Nathan Armstrong, Nathan Bolus and Jake Sunderland).
They are all did really well but we are hoping that they will all improve and make a big impression this year .
We also have a couple of young lads in the 2nd team (Matt Taaffe and Mitch Bolus) who are a bit younger but fine prospects who may make an impact during the season."
7 - How have pre season preperations been going?, can you explain what you as a team have been up to in pre season? have you had many at net practice? any noticable early improvements in the players you have seen, and if so which players have show signs of early promise?
"We don't do Indoor nets anymore but have been Outdoor for the last couple of weeks.
Everybody is looking good, working hard and looking forward to the season. We have 3 friendlies at home over Easter so that will be good preparation for the lads."
8 - Another season as the captain, whats it like captaining such a good team like St Annes? and what motivates you to keep on being the captain?
"It's great captaining such a good team and club. It certainly makes it easier having such good experienced players around me as Dinuk, Atiq, Duncan Whalley and Neil Bradley.
We've developed a really good team spirit over the past few years and it's great to be a part of that."
9 - Your opening game is away to Netherfield, the past few seasons your games at Netherfield have been rained off, however what type of game are you expecting at Netherfield? and what strengths will they bring to the table on the opening day?
"Netherfield is a great ground, somewhere where we've all enjoyed playing over the years so yes it's been a shame that we haven't managed a full game there for so many years.
They have a really strong team and I'm sure will be challenging this year.
Chris Williams going there will improve them and the excellent young players they have will be a year better so we are expecting a really tough game. We are looking forward to it though and can't wait to get started
