Ainsdale sign players from Pakistan, Australia and Facebook

Date: 12th January 2012

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

Club act to fill the gaps

Ainsdale officials have acted to fill the gaps caused by the departure of Stephen Lucas, who has joined Northern, and the non-availability of Dhruv Singh, who has been refused permission to play in England this summer by his Indian state side Haryana.

Most attention will probably be given to the recruitment of the experienced Pakistani off-spinner Tahir Khan, but Liverpool Road skipper Dave Newcombe will also be delighted to welcome the former St Helens slow left-armer Adam Friar to the First Division club. He has also been reassured that the Southport-born Australian Brendon Richards will be playing his cricket on Merseyside in 2012.

"It's a shame that the few niggles he picked up last year mean that Dhruv won't be returning to us, but as it's turned out, Tahir probably suits the current dynamics of the side a little better," said Newcombe. "He's an off-spinner who has been behind just Saqlain Mushtaq and Shoaib Malik in the pecking order to get into Pakistan's Test side."

Tahir, who celebrated his 31st birthday last Monday, has taken 232 wickets in his 81 first-class matches and he also has a batting average of nearly 27, a statistic cited as "a clincher" by Newcombe. He plays his first-class cricket for Pakistan International Airlines and the Twenty20 format for Karachi Dolphins.

Richards, by contrast, is only 18 but has already been playing good cricket for Coromandel in the Adelaide and Suburban Cricket Association. 'Brendon is the nephew of last year's second team captain Tony Norbury and he's a middle-order bat who tells me he "likes to hit boundaries." ' said Newcombe.

"He also bowls patient medium pace and we're hopeful he'll provide some cover for the absence of Stephen Lucas, whom we were disappointed to lose. However, we recognise that Stephen was told by Lancashire that he should be playing Premier League cricket, so he goes with our very good wishes and he's welcome back at our club at any time."

Completing Ainsdale's trio of newcomers is Friar, whom Newcombe describes as his first Facebook signing, having first broached the idea of a move to the slow bowler on the social network site. "Adam will be very useful indeed for us," said Friar's new captain. "He's a good slow left-armer who can bat at around No7 or No8."