Linlithgow Cricket Club to take on its first Championship in nearly a decade

Linlithgow Cricket Club skipper Grant Raven is confident his team will prove they can mix it with the best in the east as they prepare for their first East of Scotland Cricket Association Championship season in nearly a decade.

The club grabbed promotion to the top division in fine fashion last year and while Raven admits they expect to be up against it at times this campaign, he’s hopeful they can escape an immediate drop back down to Division One.

Linlithgow get their campaign underway on Saturday when they welcome Grange Second XI to Boghall.

Speaking to the Courier, the captain said: “Last season was incredible for the club, not just the First XI because the Second XI also got promoted and actually went the whole season unbeaten.

“So there’s real confidence and a feel-good factor in the club at the minute and we’re looking forward to the challenge of playing in the Championship.

“We are missing three or four of the guys who were mainstays of the team last season, they’ve moved on to play elsewhere with teams more local to them and we’ve suffered an injury to one of our main players - Clinton Dixon - in a friendly last week so we’re maybe up against it a wee bit but we know we have a good team that will cause sides some problems.”

He added: “We need to take all the opportunities that come our way and make sure we’re not costing ourselves games this season.

“We’ve got a really strong bowling attack so I think it’s just a case of us making sure we’ve got enough runs on the board to give ourselves a decent chance to defend. If we can do that, I’m confident we can pick up enough wins but it’s going to be an interesting season and we’re all looking forward to the challenge of playing in a new league and testing ourselves