BOVEY Tracey have signed Tasmanian Jordan Willoughby for the season ahead as skipper Andy Fairbairn looks to strengthen his batting line-up
Willoughby, who is 19, played Northern Premier cricket for Morecambe last season, totting up 240 runs in the league campaign.
He has played for Tasmania at U17 level and has been a First Grade regular for New Town since he was 16
Bovey have lost early order batsman Sam Wyatt-Haines this season – the Somerset Academy prospect has switched to Clevedon in the WEPL – and won’t see Zimbabwean Malcolm Lake until late June when he comes back from university in Oxford.
Wyatt-Haines hit 216 runs last season, Lake made 574 and Nathan Roberts, who was the overseas player, collected 266.
A familiar face returning to the Recreation Ground is James Fulner, a batter who has done the rounds in recent seasons.
Fulner has had two spells with Shaldon and one each with Torquay and Abbotskerswell as well as a previous stint with Bovey in 2012-13.
Fulner finished last season with Shaldon in the C Division, but wants another crack at Premier cricket.
Bovey have also signed Seamus McKenna, a hugely prolific run scorer in lower-division cricket
McKenna made 688 runs in the C Division last season – no one made more – including 181 against Kingsbridge. He had a 751-run tally in 2013 that included tons against Filleigh, Halberton and Feniton.
The final signing announced by the club is Toby Codd, a batting all-rounder who was with Abbotskerswell last season.
Codd, a Devon age-group player at U16 and U17 level last season, is expected to push for a 1st XI place as the season goes on.
Skipper Fairbairn said he was excited by the new signings, but admitted to being sad to see Wyatt-Haines leave as he had come through the club’s youth system.
“He is a fine young cricketer who is trying to make a career in the game and moving to Clevedon is all part of that,” said Fairbairn.
“Last season he wasn’t really fit to bowl for us so played mainly as a batter.
“This year he would have been a genuine all-rounder as he is bowling fit again so it is a shame he is leaving us.
“Sam’s a smashing lad and we wish him every success wherever the game takes him.”