New Kearsley captain Andy Gregory says the club are encouraged by the progress of a new-look first team as they sit mid-table in the Anthony Axford North West Cricket League’s Premiership table with five wins from nine to their name.

Kearsley were 27-run winners at Eagley on Saturday, indebted to an excellent 104 not out from 90 balls for Indian overseas amateur Soham Panvalkar, their wicketkeeper-batter who went from 50 to 100 in only 21 deliveries.

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He underpinned a 239-5 total in 40 overs before Eagley, chasing a revised 188-target in 29 overs, were 160-6 with time running out when thunder brought an end to proceedings.

Three bowlers struck twice each, new-ball duo Mustafa Bashir, Irfan Kareem and Jack Scott.

Bashir is the former Walkden captain who moved to Springfield Road ahead of this summer.

He is one of many changes there, both incomings and outgoings.

Gone are the likes of Cameron Murray, Naveed Gondal, Kian Patel and Neylan Chauhan, and in have come Bashir, Kareem and Indian duo Panvalkar and opening batter Ajay Rohera as OA and their professional to name just four.

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“Obviously, we’ve pretty much put a brand new team together,” said Gregory. “We’ve kept the core of a few Kearsley lads and then signed around it.

“We’ve obviously signed a very good pro and overseas.

“But if you’d have told me that after nine games we’d be sixth in the table with more wins than losses, I - and I think I can speak for our chairman Steve Pellowe as well - would have been pretty happy.”

In beating an Eagley side who are now hovering just above the relegation zone, Kearsley were indebted to the heroics of Panvalkar from number four in the order.

He came in at 28-2 and shared 181 for the third wicket with Mohmedruhan Tirmizi, who made 68.

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Panvalkar hit eight fours and five sixes, and Gregory said: “He was brilliant.

“We’ve actually had a bit of a running joke with him, where he keeps getting out in the forties. I asked him last week how many times he’d been out in the forties and he said that it was six.”

So never mind the nervous nineties, it was more the nervous forties?

“It was absolutely that,” chuckled Gregory. “But once he got to fifty, he was absolutely flying.”

With that type of total on the board, it was always likely to be too much for Eagley, and so it proved even if Will Shuttleworth hit an unbeaten 87 off 89 balls.

Going back to the Kearsley rebuild over the winter, it was interesting to hear Gregory talk about wanting to build a side around a core of their own players.

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“There’s probably four Kearsley lads who have played in the first team this season, including myself, who have been at the club a long, long time,” continued the skipper.

“I had a couple of years away at Blackrod, but apart from that I’ve only ever played here.

“Jack Scott, who got a couple of wickets on Saturday, is another. Then there’s Harvey Wild, who has played most of the games, and George Banks.

“It’s obviously great to win with your mates. But, at the same time, all the lads who’ve come in have been absolutely brilliant. It feels like we’ve really gelled as a team.

“The rebuild was kind of forced upon us. Cameron was a great servant for the club, but he was ready for a new challenge, Kian went to Bradshaw and Neylan just stopped playing.

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“At the end of last season, it certainly wasn’t in my plan to be first team captain this year, because I’ve only consistently played in the first team for the last two seasons. But, listen, I took it on and enjoying it. Obviously, we’re doing alright.”

Kearsley’s sixth-placed position sees them sit with 58 points and only 12 adrift of third-placed Padiham - the equivalent of one win.

On the prospect of kicking on into the second half of the season, Gregory added: “We don’t want to set ourselves any unrealistic targets, but our aim would probably be to push for that top four and get into the Lancs Knockout.

“We played Read earlier in the season, and we can’t speak highly enough of them. They’re a fantastically well run club, a good team, a good set of lads, and I do think they will go on and win it.

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“One thing we need to improve on is being a bit more ruthless with the ball.

“You look around the league, and we’ve definitely got fewer bonus points than other clubs.

“Saturday, for example, we got wickets early, we got off to a good start and then hit a bit of a flat spot. We went through the motions a little bit. It’s something we’ve spoken about.

“Generally, though, we’re happy with how it’s going, there’s no doubt about that.”