Date: 29th Mar 2024
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GARY KNIGHT JOINS LYTHAM

Date: 4th February 2016

A Paul Edwards copyright exclusive for L&DCC Official Website.

Church Road outfit aiming high in 2016

In one of the highest profile moves of the close season wicketkeeper-batsman Gary Knight has joined Lytham from Ormskirk and will take up a wide-ranging role that includes playing first-team cricket, mentoring his younger team-mates and coaching the Church Road juniors.
 
The recruitment of Knight completes a busy winter for Lytham officials. The Fylde club had already persuaded young local batsmen, Taylor Cornall and Matt Taaffe, to test themselves in the Med Imaging Liverpool Competition and the team’s attack will be led in 2016 by Lancashire’s left-arm seamer, Toby Lester, whenever his commitments at Old Trafford allow. However, Knight’s signing has brought particular pleasure to new Lytham skipper and former keeper, Dom O’Brien, who will now be able to concentrate on leading the side and batting.
 
“Gary’s a
very clean, neat keeper and a top-order batsman who is going to be a great addition to our squad,” said O’Brien. “He’s very professional in his work and we’re looking forward to working with him this season. I’m very happy to hand over the gloves to him and I’m looking forward to watching him keep. He’s got a very good head on his shoulders and a very good cricketing brain in addition to his talent, so we’re really pleased to have signed him.
 
“He’ll be involved with coaching roles with the juniors, especially on a Friday evening, and his experience of playing county second XI cricket will equip him perfectly to take on a mentoring role with some of the young players in the first team.”
 
O’Brien is also hoping that the new quartet will help his team cope with the departures of Will Hale and Danny Edwards as they seek to challenge for the ECB Premier League title this summer. It hardly needs saying that a flirtation with relegation, an eighth-place finish and a 158-point gap between themselves and champions New Brighton hardly constituted a perfect 2015 for the ambitious Church Road players.
 
“We felt as a club that we under-achieved last season but Gary is just one of the good signings we’ve made this winter,” said O’Brien. “We want to be pushing right at the top and we’ve assembled a great squad to help us do that. We don’t just want a top four finish. We go into every season wanting to win the Premier League but this year I think our aim is a bit more realistic.”
        
 
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