Garstang CC captain relishes Saturday's meeting with Longridge CC

The two sides meet at the Riverside in the third game of the Northern Premier Cricket League season.

Longridge go into the game top of the table after winning their first two matches against Fleetwood and Leyland.

Walling’s players, for their part, have a win and a loss so far after victory at Leyland on the opening day and then losing to Blackpool last weekend.

“It’s going to be a big game,” Walling said of Saturday’s encounter.

“We know they are strong. They don’t have a professional but they have 11 very good amateurs.

“We’re at home and we generally do well at home, though last Saturday was a disappointment – but I’m sure we will bounce back.

“Longridge do have a very good set-up though, they give youth a go and bring people through.

“I think they will be there or thereabouts this season because they have some really good players.

“At the end of the day, it’s going to be a competitive match and if we play well, I think we will win.

“It’s always enjoyable playing them. It’s a good game, it’s competitive but it’s a good, healthy rivalry.

“We are similar clubs with similar demographics to be honest, so it’s going to be a really good battle and whoever plays the better cricket will win the game.”

Both sides have also booked their place in the last eight of the league’s 40-over competition with Garstang seeing off Morecambe and Longridge beating Lancaster.

The win against Morecambe provided a welcome pick-me-up in more ways than one, coming as it did after Garstang’s defeat to Blackpool.

“The Morecambe win was really good because we had a couple of people missing,” Walling said.

“We had a couple of Under-15 players that came in and did well, they didn’t make up the numbers.”

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