Other than welcoming new professional Sathish Rajagapal to the club, who will be detained in India for Saturday's opening game at Settle, new captain Richard Palmer believes his side is more than capable of improving on fifth place.

"I'm quite happy with what we've got, everyone is a year older and a year wiser," said the Station Road captain. "We'll most definitely have a sub-pro for Saturday's game as Sathish is captaining his ICL side, and they've reached a final.

"We're hopeful he'll be with us for the second week, and the double header.

"We've not strengthened as much as others, but if we can see a bit more coolness under pressure, then we will do alright.

"Last year we just threw away some close games, and probably made others closer than than they should have been.

"Neil Cordingley is a big player with both bat and ball and was our leading run maker last season. Martin Davies is free from the shackles of the captaincy and I'm sure will come to the fore, and Lee Kearsley is capable of 400-plus runs.

"We'll also be looking at some of the younger lads like George Thomas for a few more runs. I'd be disappointed if we did worse than last season."