Coach Shur is excited over season

NORTHUMBERLAND CCC head coach Dan Shurben is excited at the opportunity the 2021 season can bring for his young side, writes SAM BLACKLOCK.

With the National Counties fixtures announced earlier this month, Northumberland are beginning to plan for their up-and-coming campaign in both red and white-ball cricket.

That campaign starts on Sunday, April 18 with a T20 clash in Cumbria.

Shurben said: “It is always good to receive the fixtures early so we can start to look forward and plan where we will be and which players we will potentially have available for each format.

“Hopefully with the early start to the T20 competition we can build momentum and begin the season strongly.”

Captain Tom Cant also believes the squad will be in a good place to compete in 2021:

He said: “The three different formats pose different challenges and we have begun to put plans in place as to how we want to play and who we see filling different roles.

“There has been a lot of change in the playing and coaching group since I took over as captain in 2018 but I think we are in a good place and more settled going into 2021.

“Hopefully we will see an improvement in performances and results across all three formats.”

Cant added: “We competed in the T20s in 2018 and 2019, finishing second and third in the group.

“We have always started slowly in the competition and been playing catch-up so all our focus will be on Cumbria and getting off to a good start.

“Like all cricket the ultimate test is the longer form of the game.

“We need to be more consistent for longer periods in the three-day Championship matches and eradicate the poor hour or session from our game.”

In the 2019 season Northumberland suffered a disappointing Championship campaign, finishing third in the T20 group and losing out in the knockout 50-over cup at the firstround stage.

However, Cant added: “In all three competitions we hope to see an improvement individually and collectively this year.”