New Bourton Vale captain Darrel Williams, known to everyone as Dazzler, is hoping for a bright start to the season.

The 28-year-old, who has played for Barnt Green in the Birmingham League for the past 10 seasons, has an impressive cricketing CV and is relishing the opportunity to lead his new club in the Gloucestershire Division of the West of England Premier League.

And he has joined a club with plenty of ambition.

“There’s a five-year plan,” explained the leg-spinning all-rounder. “We want to get into Premier One, we want to be playing against Bath, Frocester and Taunton St Andrews.

“We’ve got the facilities and we think we’ve got the players.

“We’ve been at the current level for a number of seasons, we want to play in the top division.”

Williams has taken over as captain from Charlie Garratt, who has moved to Dumbleton, and he’s  joined a club that he knows well.

He lives in the area having recently moved to Shipston-on-Stour from Moreton-in-Marsh and has been a regular over the years at Bourton’s ever-popular Cricket Week which is one of the highlights of the club’s summer.

“It was the right time to move,” said Banbury-born Williams, who captained Barnt Green for three years during his time at the club. “I was happy at Brant Green but I’ve got a good role at a club that wants to move in the right direction.

“It was the right time to be a captain again. With the people and the facilities at Bourton, I couldn’t really say no.”

And while he will bring plenty of experience as a player – he’s played for Oxfordshire for the past two seasons – he will bring plenty of experience as a captain too.

“I’ve always been a captain,” he said. “I was in charge at Barnt Green when I was 23, 24, 25, and I was always captain when I was at the Worcestershire Academy and when I was at Durham University.”

So what sort of captain is he?

“I like to think I’m a Ben Stokes-type captain before Ben Stokes became a captain,” he said.

“I like to give people the freedom to play and I like to play on the front foot.

“I play hard cricket but I play fair cricket. It’s about getting that balance right between being very aggressive on the pitch but being sociable off it.”

Williams is very easy to interview and he has been playing at a good level for the best part of two decades after joining the Worcestershire Academy at the age of nine.

Joe Clarke and Ed Barnard were two of his contemporaries and he said: “I was there until I was 23. I played for the 2^nd XI for three years and was 12^th man for the 1^st XI a few times.”

He played a couple of first class games for Durham MCCU when he was a student but added: “It was difficult to get into Worcestershire’s first team when I was there, they had quite an old side.

“If I was there now I think I would have more of a chance because of the greater emphasis in county cricket on picking younger players.

“Durham and Gloucestershire were sniffing around me at one stage and I do wonder whether I should have explored it.

“But Worcestershire were brilliant for me, they made me the player I am today.”

Williams considers himself to be a genuine all-rounder but says he is a better bowler than batsman.

His leg-spin will be a big weapon in the coming months and he is looking forward to bowling in tandem with left-armer spinner Max Shepherd, who has returned to the club after several seasons with Cheltenham.

Arthur Hanson, who is on the Sussex pathway, is another left-arm spinner who Williams is looking forward to see playing and he said: “I think we’ve got one of the best spin attacks going.”

Any team at any level wants an effective leg-spinner, of course, and Williams is certainly in that category.

“I’ve got a googly and a slider,” he said. “I’m looking forward to showing everyone what I’ve got.”

And what about his batting?

“I’ve usually been a leg-spinner who bats 7, 8 or 9,” he said. “But I averaged 38 for Barnt Green last year, I offer plenty with the bat.

“I’m looking to bat 5 or 6 for Bourton depending on the scenarios. We’ve got a lot of expansive players at Bourton, I’m a bit more solid.”

Bourton begin their league campaign at Frocester 2nds on Saturday 4^th May.