Sabin steps up to the top job at Banbury

And the first batsman to lead the White Post Road club since Benji Hector had no hesitation in taking over from Luke Ryan when he was given the opportunity.

He said: “I feel I’m ready to be captain, I know I’m only 21 but I’ve been around the club for quite a long time. I captained a lot of sides when I was younger and the university side.

“When I was captain of the youth teams it was always in the back of my mind that one day I would like to captain the first XI. So when I was asked I didn’t hesitate.”

Banbury will have to do without the services of Tim Paine this year. He was the leading run-maker last season as well keeping wicket, so Banbury have two roles to fill.

Sabin has spent the winter playing cricket in New Zealand – scoring plenty of runs – and that’s something he admits he needs to do when the Home Counties Premier Cricket League campaign gets under way with Saturday’s trip to Harefield.

He said: “As batsmen in the last couple of years, we haven’t fired as a unit, and I include myself in that. I’ve been under-par the last couple of years.

“As batsmen, we all need to step up this time, we all realise that, especially in the big games which cost us the title last year.

“We didn’t do well enough during the important periods in the big games. We’re a good batting unit and we’re capable of posting big scores but we lost wickets in clusters and we need to change that.

“We’ve got good depth all the way down the order but we have to be more positive. I want to try and encourage everyone to take more responsibility in the middle.

“On paper, we’ve looked a side that can win it but we’ve always fallen short. We need to concentrate on each game and I don’t think we’ll be far off at the end.”