Fort Augustus will make their NoSCA senior league debut when they make the trip to champions Forres St Lawrence on Saturday.
The club, who were founded in 2016, have opted to participate as one of six teams involved in the top league this term.
NoSCA president Nigel Gerrard is pleased to welcome a new addition to the league, which he hopes bodes well for expanding the league further in years to come.
Gerrard said: “I’m very pleased we now have Fort Augustus moving up to the senior league.
“It was evident last season that the players they had would be able to hold their own and compete in the senior league.
“It’s nice to have that different team to visit for each of the clubs. I have been to Fort Augustus before, and it’s a nice place.
“They are the first of a few teams who I really believe should be playing senior league, not reserve league.
“I’m hoping that’s maybe the door open for next season for one or two of the others.”
The NoSCA season returned last summer with only five teams, after being suspended due to Covid in 2020.
Gerrard believes the teams involved will be well-positioned to build on last term, when they took their first steps out of the pandemic.
He added: “I have a bit of optimism for the new season.
“The hope is the teams have got the players to play, but until the season gets under way we will not know 100% how it will go.
“I don’t think any club really knows, as you can always lose or gain players through the season.
“Last season was actually surprisingly competitive, as it went down to the last game of the season.
“None of the teams laid down as it were. In previous seasons Elgin have been one of the weaker teams, but they got a couple of good players in.
“The rules that were in place have not all been lifted, we are still being careful.
“There are less of them than last season though and it should allow us to socialise after matches, which was very difficult with the way things were.
“Now we are back to more of the norm, we will be able to do more of the entertaining type stuff.”
Forres expecting difficult competition in bid to retain title
Gerrard, who represents Forres St Lawrence, expects his side will face stiff competition in their efforts to retain their title.
PRE SEASON FRIENDLY
At our good friends along the road at @GstounSport 🙂 pic.twitter.com/DGUtVAa6ws
— Forres St. Lawrence Cricket Club (@ForresSaints) May 5, 2022
He added: “I think we surprised ourselves last season. We don’t really have any new players coming in, I’m just hoping that the two or three youngsters we started playing last season can come a bit more to the fore.
“I think we will be competitive. We may not win every match, as last week showed, but hopefully we will win more than we lose.
“If we do that we could be there or thereabouts, but I’m not expecting us to do what we did last season.
“I’m expecting a push from Ross County and Northern Counties.
“I think the league is fairly level – probably more so than it has been for a few years.”
