BOARS captain Mark Evenson says there is no reason why his teammates can’t aim for a top-two finish in Birmingham & District Premier Division Two next season.
Bromsgrove signed off their campaign with a 138-run win at Bridgnorth, enough to secure the fifth-place finish that Evenson and co. had targeted prior to their season finale.
And after reflecting upon the 2019 season following Saturday’s game, in which the Boars recorded their ninth win of the campaign, Evenson believes a stellar year is well within their grasp in 2020.
“We’ve got a good core of players here, and we want to challenge the top two spots and get in that top four if possible,” he said.
“We know it won’t be easy with two top sides coming down from Division One, so we have to be wary of stepping up our game.
“If we can be more consistent, then there’s no reason why we can’t challenge.”
The Bromsgrove skipper is clear on his stance on younger players, and after affording a debut to Tom Downing in the final game, is hoping other prospects can follow suit.
“It’s my job as captain to integrate the young faces into the team,” he said.
“We had Freddie Fallows appear once or twice, at Bromsgrove we want to promote from within the club, it’s all about blooding the next batch of cricketers.
“So hopefully there will be one or two others who can also feature next season.”
Bromsgrove openers Jack Taylor (18) and Jayden Levitt (59) got proceedings underway with a first-wicket partnership of 35, which the latter immediately bettered when hitting 109 alongside unbeaten centurion Ashley Newfield (104).
In what was becoming an afternoon of superb batting from the Boars, number four Alex Milton (96) approached a century during his time at the crease with Newfield – as the pair put on 170 for the third wicket.
Set a target of 317, Bridgnorth stumbled their way to a 178 score, with Alex Wilkinson (4-52), Gareth Williams (2-27) and Newfield (2-13) afforded a field day with the ball in hand.
Even with Adam Quiney (61) smashing a half-century, it did little to challenge the visitors’ score, with victory being assured in the 39th over.
The Boars captain called it the perfect way to finish off the season, and said: “We were disappointed after Harborne and Oswestry, so we managed to finish on the perfect note.
“If, at the start of the year, you’d have offered me our final position after all of the changes, I’d have probably bitten your hand off after the start we had – so it definitely made the beer taste that bit sweeter after the game.”
Despite the positives, the skipper knows exactly where improvements can be made.
“Our second half of the season has been fantastic, we doubled or tripled our points tally,” said Evenson.
“The first ten or 11 games were a struggle, so overall I feel it’s a fair result and a measure of where we’re at.
“Against the top four sides, we only claimed one out-and-out victory, you have to beat the top teams to finish up there.
“So that’s definitely an area where we we need to improve next season.”
