Will Ford named new Northern Counties captain for 2022 North of Scotland cricket season as former vice-captain steps up
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Northern Counties Cricket Club have appointed a new captain ahead of the 2022 season.
Shaun Thomas has stepped down from the role, with former vice-captain Will Ford moving up into the top job. Matthew Latimer will take over as vice-captain.
Ford had been second in command for the last four years, and he has high hopes for the year ahead – even if he sees the captaincy as having more impact off the pitch than on it.
"As a club captain, you're there as a figurehead, I see it as a standard-setter," Ford explained.
"I try to be involved as much as I can with the development and the training, so I know what's going on in every aspect of the club.
"The on-field stuff runs itself. We have so much experience that the captain is there just to make sure it all comes together on a Saturday.
"I don't need to be pulling rank, it's just about being someone people can come to if they have questions, worries or ideas.
"I would like to win the league this year. We've got a really good 15 or 16-man squad for our first team, so I'd really like to win everything we're in – I don't see why we can't.
"Aside from that on-field stuff, I want to develop cricket in the area and make sure we've got as many people playing cricket as possible.
"I really want to push that, because you can play any sport you want, but if you don't have people coming through it won't take long before it all dies out."
Northern Counties have made a big push for youth cricket in recent years, and Ford wants to see that ethos return to all areas of the club.
"We sort of fell away from feeling like we were a club," he admitted.
"It felt like we were just a group of people together playing cricket, so we want to get back to being a club with some direction and foundation, and bring it back to a point where we've got families and children involved.
"We want people to be proud of being part of the club, being proud to play cricket, and not just turn up and play then go home again.
"That's the direction we've been trying to push things. If things like that go well off the field, then things will go well on the field naturally.
"If you've got all that, you end up with more people who will be selected, more people will want to come to the club because of the good ethos.
"It all develops from there, so it's really setting that off on the right foot to allow the rest of it to develop."
