SPORT in April has many faces. They include the azaleas at Augusta, the fallers at the first in the National and the sharp end of the football season.
And for thousands of cricket devotees in Merseyside and beyond, the month also sees the start of the Liverpool Competition.
A few spectators, even one or two players, might take a slightly cynical and world-weary view of it all.
Not so Tim Watkins, 44-years-young and captain of New Brighton, the team named in The Wisden Cricketer as the favourites to carry off the league title for the first time since 1998.
“I’ve got as much enthusiasm for the start of this season as I’ve had for ages,” declared Watkins, who isn’t fussed in the slightest by publicity in a national magazine.
“I like the idea that people think we’re a good side because I think we are too,” he added.
“There’s optimism at the club about this season. It’s time we won something and it doesn’t bother me that people think we’re favourites. At some clubs early season optimism has to be tempered with realism, but I’m fortunate in that I expect us to do well.”
The skipper’s view is bolstered by the fact that he has added the Cumberland all-rounder Alex Roberts to the already formidable side which finished third in 2008. He also expects Tom Jones, currently serving with the REMY in Aldershot, to be making the journey up to Wirral on a regular basis.
Indeed, one of the more ticklish problems confronting Watkins may be selecting his best XI. That, though, is not an issue he needs to address tomorrow, when both he and Louis Botes miss the match against Ormskirk because they are accompanying their sons on a rugby tour to Leeds.
Watkins makes no apology for placing his family before cricket. Nor does he argue with the view that, even before a ball’s been bowled in anger, the game with Ormskirk is a “50-pointer”.
He said: “It’s an early season big game and in some ways it’s a shame that it’s being played so early.”
Elsewhere on the first day of the Business Assistance Liverpool Competition season, David Snellgrove begins his reign as Firwood Bootle skipper at home to Hightown and promoted Northop Hall visit Fleetwood Hesketh.
TOMORROW (12.30pm): Business Assistance Liverpool Competition: ECB Premier League: Firwood Bootle v Hightown, Colwyn Bay v Lytham, Fleetwood Hesketh v Northop Hall, Formby v Newton-le-Willows, New Brighton v Ormskirk, Northern v Prestatyn, Southport & Birkdale v Wallasey. First Division:Burscough v Ainsdale, Highfield v Leigh, Maghull v Liverpool, Rainford v Wigan, St Helens v Rainhill, St Helens Recs v Skelmersdale, Sefton Park v Orrell Red Triangle.Burscough v Ainsdale, Highfield v Leigh, Maghull v Liverpool, Rainford v Wigan, St Helens v Rainhill, St Helens Recs v Skelmersdale, Sefton Park v Orrell Red Triangle.
