THE Bolton Association kick off the local cricket season tomorrow with the first round of league matches.

The league has a new addition to its 18-strong structure this season with the arrival of Westleigh who have plugged the gap following Elton's departure for the Central Lancashire League.

Reigning champions Flixton begin their defence with a trip to Daisy Hill while their big title rivals in the last two years' campaigns, 2013 champions Atherton, start away at Golborne.

Both are again expected to be at the forefront of this season's battle for top spot but can expect challenges to come from the likes of Walshaw, Bury and Daisy Hill who showed up well last season.

Edgworth are another who are are looking to sit in the upper reaches of the division, although captain Guy Haynes is not predicting an assault on the title just yet.

"We've made a few new signings who have strengthened the squad and at this stage I would be happy to be in the top six," he said.

"Anything better than that would be a bonus.

"It will be interesting to see if we can score enough runs because I think we have a very good bowling side.

"We've brought in Chris Read who is a 700 runs man and Brett Ernst who could get 700 or 1,000."

Edgworth have also recruited David Gornall from Spring View and Chris Thie.

"Dave is a good player and Chris could pad up now and play.

"We're not weak on the batting side, I would expect us to bat all the way down, and we have the potential to be very good with the bat, but we'll have to wait and see if we'll get enough runs.

“We have a very strong squad – our seconds won the league last year quite comfortably – but a lot can happen in a season and we’ll see what happens.”