WESTFIELD Saints’ committee member Brian Francis says players join the club because they do not like the seriousness of Saturday cricket.

The Saints are members of Village Cricket League Division Two, which operates on Sundays.

Francis, who keeps wicket for the team, said: “I hadn’t played cricket for a long time before joining the club, which I think is true of a lot of our players. 

“We’ve always played Sunday cricket as long as I’ve been here. We’ve never played on Saturdays. 

“We find a lot of our players join because they don’t like the seriousness of Saturday cricket.” 

Of his role behind the stumps, Francis said: “I took it up because I thought it’d help me improve my batting.

“When you bowl first you get to watch the ball coming off the pitch for the whole innings.

“So you get to see what the pitch is doing – and this definitely helps when it comes to your turn to bat.”

Westfield’s stand-in captain is David Cain, 30. He revealed why he is modelling his appearance on former Australia paceman Merv Hughes.

Cain said: “This is my third season playing for the side and my first time captaining a Sunday team.

“The bowling’s been going so badly this year that I thought maybe if I looked the part by growing a Hughes-style moustache, I’d be able to land a few wickets.”

Of how he came to join the club, Cain said: “I played at school and my dad used to run a pub team in Woking, so I used to have the joy of being a backstop when I was about eight years old. But I’ve never had lessons or any sort of coaching.

“I live across the road from the ground. My dad knows the groundskeeper and I decided a year after Covid that I’d join. 

“I didn’t expect to drop as many catches as I do – but apart from that it’s good fun. 

“I did find when I joined that I was anxious at first because I’d never played officially.

“But then I found it’s all right and I’m really pleased I joined.”