S&B secure deal for promising ace Juyal
WITH the start of the Love Lane Liverpool Competition season just over ten weeks away, Southport and Birkdale sealed their first signing of the winter this week when they recruited the Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai Indians batsman, Aryan Juyal.
If statistics and reputation are reliable guides, the patience of the Trafalgar Road officials in waiting for the right cricketer to become available looks completely justified.
Juyal has made one first-class hundred and three List A centuries, and although the 21-year-old has yet to play for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, his presence in their squad suggests the respect in which he is held in his home country.
Having toured this country with the Reliance team last summer, Juyal also has experience of English conditions and it is expected that he will be available for the entire season.
The signing of one of the most highly regarded young cricketers in the subcontinent represents a considerable coup for S&B and also continues the club’s link with India, a connection that began with Shome Kapoor and continued most famously with the recruitment of Abey Kuruvilla to the title-winning side in 1996.
“It’s fantastic news to get the signing of Aryan over the line,” said S&B skipper Chris Cunningham.
“The identification of the right player, one whom we believe can help us both on and off the field is something we have been working hard on during the winter.
“When we came across Aryan, he stood out straight away. His stats for such a young man in first-class and List A cricket are impressive and his talent is evident.
“To be picked up by the Mumbai
Indians last year reinforces that. Nothing bad can come from spending time around Sachin Tendulkar.
“S&B’s chairman, Andrew Carney, and I spoke to Aryan a couple of times on Zoom and he came across really well.
“He’s a young lad with personality and certainly impressed us as a confident player who knows what he wants.
“Once we had talked with him, it was clearly evident that this would be the right move for us.
“Aryan will bat in the top order and our hope is that he will bring that next level of quality and responsibility to our strong but still youthful batting line-up.
“We must neither forget nor neglect the age of those lads whose primary job it is to score runs, but they will be another year older, wiser, stronger and ultimately better in 2023.
“There were times last year we lacked that little bit of know-how and ruthlessness that was needed to see games out.
“Aryan will come in and complement what we have and provide that extra depth to ensure that the pressure on those boys doesn’t restrict their ability to play their game.”
Critics may point to the current absence of a seam-bowling spearhead to lead S&B’s attack but Cunningham is anxious not to restrict the opportunities afforded to Basil Sultan and Tom Crew.
And he also knows that both Corey Flintoff and Harvey Walker should be available when their school commitments allow.
Nevertheless, S&B’s skipper is hopeful that his winter recruitment is not yet at an end.
“I am still looking to add another signing to the club, someone who will make us even stronger and add to the healthy competition we have,” he said. “In the next couple of weeks, we will have a better idea of how realistic that can be.”*