Shaneil Patel believes his Firwood Bootle side are on the right track as they prepare to return to the top flight.
Promotion last season ended a spell of three years in Division One, following their first ever relegation in 2021.
That the drop came at the first attempt after securing a 16th league title – three more than the next best – made it all the more shocking.
Patel, who took over as skipper in 2023, knows there is a long way to go to bring back the glory days.
But he believes the project to rebuild the club’s culture is already reaping rewards.
He said: “We’re probably ahead of schedule. We’ve got juniors coming through who will hopefully be pushing for 1st XI spots this year, which is a real positive.
“We’re concentrating internally on our processes, our culture and it’s going brilliantly.
“Everyone is on board. Expectations are there, they always have been and always will be.
“And at some point, if we keep going in the direction we’re going at the moment, we’ll be able to fulfill those expectations.
“But we just need to concentrate on ourselves, make sure that we’re recruiting people who are buying into the culture, and if they don’t fit then that’s fine and we move on.”
Patel did not see many gaps in his promotion-clinching side, who remained unbeaten in the league until September.
South African Hermann Rolfes, one of Division One’s best players last season, will not be back – instead, Bootle have snapped up his compatriot Ivan Kriek, fresh from helping Rainford to third place.
Wicketkeeper Kris Ali arrives from Liverpool after a breakthrough 2024, but apart from that there are no new arrivals at Wadham Road.
Spectators will need to have their wits about them – naturalised Indian all-rounder Sagar Trivedi’s 30 sixes last season were the league’s highest.
“We’re excited to see how we can showcase everyone’s abilities,” Patel added.
“We’ve got lads who’ve played in Premier Leagues in different counties so there’s a lot of experience there, but we’re not focusing on any other team apart from ourselves.
“We know we’ve got one of the strongest seam attacks around and we’ve got some very good batters too.
“There’s a lot of quality there with the likes of Sagar, and Ivan coming in, and we’re very hopeful it will be a decent year.”
What counts as “decent” is not something Patel is ready to commit to yet.
Instead, he just wants to focus on making sure his players do themselves justice.
He said: “We’re focused on ourselves, which I’ve always done since I’ve been captain.
“The main aim for the season is to win as many games as we can and showcase how good a side we are.
“Results will speak for themselves – if we’re playing proper cricket, then we can beat anyone.
“We’ll concentrate on that, see what happens this year then build on that the following year.
“We don’t want to look too far ahead, we’re just looking forward to the first game.”
