Papplewick face rivals Cuckney in mouthwatering NPL opener

Both club have aspirations of chasing the title and Papplewick captain Sam Ogrizovic said: “Cuckney are one the best-run and best-organised teams in the county and the type of club we aspire to be like.

“I think they will be without their two overseas pros for this game which obviously helps, but they've got so much strength in depth in the club that it's always one of the hardest fixtures on the calendar.

“Unfortunately our pro Toby Pettman won't be able to play either.

“He has bowled about 35 overs for Notts this week. They obviously have to monitor their workload and he has been told to rest as he has another game with Notts on Monday.

“That's his job and he has to make sure he's ready to go with that, so it's understandable.

“It has helped in terms of selection as to who would have missed out for us though. Everyone else is looking good and ready to go.”

On the potential title race, he added: “I think Kimberley will also challenge. I see the top four being Cavs (West Indian Cavaliers), Kimberley, us and Cuckney.

“On their day any side can beat any side in this league, which we see consistently. They will be the strongest teams but we are not taking anybody lightly. We are not good enough to take anyone lightly.

“Our aim is to win the league. We got to the play-offs final last year.

“But it's going to be tough. Cavaliers in particular are so strong, have done it so many times before and have got so much experience.

“But we set a goal right at the end of last year that we want to win the league. It is a very tough league. But that's what we are aiming for.”

Papplewick missed out on a final friendly last weekend when the proposed game with Ockbrook & Borrowash fell through.

“Ockbrook pulled out which was frustrating,” said Ogrizovic.

“But we ended up having a squad practice at the ground instead. With the session we had, we probably got more out of it than a friendly. So we made the best of a bad situation.”