Spirits are high at Ross County following last year’s NoSCA cup-double-winning campaign.
The Strathpeffer outfit firstly claimed last season’s T20 Cup, when they defeated Forres St Lawrence to win their first silverware since winning the competition in 2006.
Later in the season, Ross County went on to record another victory over Forres to win the Senior Cup for the first time in 21 years.
The cup success has given County’s opening batsman Chris Blake hope of mounting a challenge for a first Senior League title since 1990.
Blake said: “There’s a good buzz at our club just now. We have a fairly settled team, which always helps.
“Last year was our best season for a long time. We came unstuck in the league, losing a couple of games we shouldn’t have.
“The confidence is high. Because we won the NoSCA T20 competition we are going into the Scottish T20 Challenge Cup.
“We are playing at Mannofield in Aberdeen in a couple of weeks’ time, in a regional qualifier.
“We will be representing NoSCA against teams from Aberdeenshire and Strathmore.
“The winner of that will then go through to the Scottish finals, so that is something on the horizon that we are looking forward to.
“We are enjoying our cricket.”
Northern Counties to provide formidable test
Standing in the way of County this weekend are Northern Counties, who have made an impressive start to the season by winning their opening three matches.
Even at an early stage in the season, Blake regards this weekend’s Castle Leod encounter as key in the title race.
He added: “We lost to Elgin which was a bit of a spanner in the works, but we are not going to dwell on that.
“I think it’s the most competitive the league has been for a long time. I honestly think any team can take points off any other team.
“We will hope to do that on Saturday, as if we can take the points against Northern Counties it should open up the league wide open once again.
“They are the only undefeated team in the league this year.
“It’s a crucial game for both of us. If either of us want to have intentions of winning the league, we need to see it as a must-win fixture.
“We have a new mower at the cricket club, and the outfield is absolutely razor short.
“If the weather stays decent we should make quite a few runs.
“I don’t think Northern Counties would mind me saying that I think they have been bowling better than they have been batting this year so far.
“The same probably goes for us as well. If either team can get a batsman who gets set and stays there to bat the 40 overs, that could easily make the difference on Saturday.”
Future bright for Ross County
Blake is optimistic the future is bright for Ross County, with the club aiming to integrate more young talent into their side during the course of the season.
He added: “We have got a really good junior setup just now. There are about 20 juniors who come down on Wednesdays.
“Of that group, there are about five or six of them who will be 13 this year. They are almost ready to make the step up to hard ball cricket.
“We are going to try and get these guys some game time in the reserve league. We want to bring them through and nurture them.
“The future is looking quite good for us, as long as we can hang on to these kids when they become fully-fledged teenagers.
“If you speak to any cricket club in Scotland, they will probably say that hanging on to 16 and 17-year-olds is the challenging part.”