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Aussie Royce is back and ready to roll

23/ 4/2008

AUSTRALIAN batsman Royce Blight is hoping his presence at Heywood this summer will inspire the Central Lancashire League side to hat-trick of Wood Cup titles as well as the CLL title.

The 22-year-old batsman and part-time wrist spinner is scheduled to arrive at Heywood­-as the club’s overseas amateur-next Wednesday for his third season with the 2006 CLL Champions.

Blight, who was a member of the 2005 Wood Cup winning team and the all-conquering Heywood side which won the CLL and Wood Cup double in 2006, is hungry to win more silverware this time around.

"I can’t wait to get to back to Heywood next week because I’ve made a lot of friends at the club and improved my game," Blight told Observer Sport. "I’ve got happy memories of winning the CLL and the Wood Cup and I want to help the team win both trophies again this year. "I didn’t go to Heywood last year because having been to England in 2005 and 2006 I decided to stay at home and have a rest.  But I’ve been in regular contact with {Heywood captain} Bobby Cross and he’s told me we’ve got the players to do well this year so I’m excited to be going back. I know there are expectations of me to score a lot of runs because I’m the overseas amateur but that’s something I’m used to now and it doesn’t worry me."

Blight enjoyed a productive season with the bat for his grade club Midland-Guildford in Perth this winter.

Batting in the middle-order, the attacking right-hander finished in 15th place on the overall West Australia club averages with 543 runs at 60.33, and a season best score of 86 not out, despite the two day matches-played over consecutive Saturdays-limiting his time at the crease.

Blight also chipped in with four wickets at an economical 29.5 average with his under-used leg-spin.

Looking ahead to the new season the Aussie believes Bobby Cross is ideally placed to lead Heywood to a second CLL title in three summers.

Cross, the son of ex-Manchester City striker Dave, was the CLL’s youngest captain in 2005 when the 22-year-old rewrote the record books with 1044 runs at 52.5.

"Bobby is Heywood’s best player; not just for the runs he scores but also for his leadership," Blight said. "He’s highly respected by everyone at the club and all of the players want to emulate him.I’ve had a good season in for Midland-Guildford but I didn’t get as much time with the bat as I would have liked. Sometimes in two-day games you only get one bat a month so I finished with about five or six ‘not outs’ but I’m happy with the way I played when I got my chance. I only bowled 23 overs in the season but my strike rate was quite good. Bobby gave me the ball in 2005 and 2006 when I became a bit of a partnership breaker so hopefully I can do it again this summer."