The club put a big focus on recruiting in the off-season to help its first XI, and the early signs are promising, with one win – all Woolsthorpe could muster for the entire 2016-17 season – on the board already.

“We’ve done well on the recruiting side of things,” Bridge said. “We needed to recruit a few A graders – that was our shortfall last year.

“We’ve probably got about 15 A grade players now at the club, and we recruited four or five of them.”

Bridge has high expectations for the input of first-drop batsman and wicketkeeper Steve Blacker, whom he previously played with “a fair while ago”, while another new face in Joey Whitton made an instant impact with the ball, snaring 6-40 in the opening match against Yambuk.

“We’re just hoping for a really even spread, that’s what we want,” Bridge said.

“In the past, if (players) A, B, C didn’t get runs, that was us out of it.”

But Woolsthorpe now has plenty of options at its disposal, highlighted by the efforts of middle order bats Brent Fedley (29), Sam Alberts (21 not out) and Jason Alberts (26 not out) in the opener.

Woolsthorpe will be hoping for another strong performance when it takes on reigning premier Killarney in a two-day match starting on Saturday.

Grassmere will launch its season after last week’s bye when it takes on Yambuk, Wangoom faces Purnim, Panmure hosts Hawkesdale and Mailors Flat has the bye.