ADLINGTON captain Jon Howells believes his club is set up for a tilt at promotion whether it is this season or in the future.

The Huyton Road side are going well in third place in the Association division with a tough trip to the team one place behind them Astley Bridge tomorrow.

Howells says his side's major goal this season is to go up to the BCL Premiership. But the club is taking a sensible approach to make sure if it does not happen this year they will give themselves every chance of succeeding in the future.

Of the 10 clubs in the Association more than half have hopes of clinching one of the top two promotion spots.

Little Lever are in seventh position, for example, but such is the close competition in the division that they hammered Adlington a couple of weeks ago and go into tomorrow's home game against neighbours Darcy Lever with promotion expectations high, as do the six teams above them.

“Promotion is our main aim because we want to play the highest standard we can, but there are probably seven teams who would say the same," Howells said.

“I reckon there is probably a bit more pressure on the likes of Little Lever and Astley Bridge to get promoted because they are traditional Bolton League clubs.

“I suspect one or two of the teams might have invested in winning promotion. If it doesn’t happen for us then we will go again.”

Adlington have introduced a new cricket committee this season.

It sits alongside the general committee with the objective of joining up the junior and senior sections and taking a longer term view.

And they a looking at their future being in the Bolton League with Howells saying they are happy with the new two-division structure of local clubs.

“We’re really enjoying the current Bolton League structure and the push for promotion,” he said.

“If they could attract the four more clubs to go to two divisions of 12 it would be ideal.

“Hopefully, the 20 that are in at the moment will remain at least.”

Adlington have a mix of youth and experience in the side and a good pro and South African overseas player that Howells believes gives them a good chance of challenging for a top-two spot.

“We have only lost one game in the league and we have had two home games rained off against Little Hulton and Atherton.

“That’s disappointing because we always think we can beat anyone at home.

“Apart from our pro Majid Majeed and our overseas AJ van Rensburg we’ve got nine players who have played junior cricket at Adlington.

“It’s been a big boost to have Jack Shovelton back (after a year playing for Atherton) as he can win you matches with both bat and ball.”

Shovelton is one of the younger members of the team along with his brother Tom, Andrew Leyland, who opens the bowling, and Zach Green and Ruth Leese, who have played in the Dixon Air Conditioning Twenty20 competition.

“When you blend that with some of our wily old campaigners like Ben King, Iain Critchley, Daryl Hitchen and Karl Drinkwater, who provide knowledge and experience, then we’ve got a good combination.

“We’ve got a good pro in Majid who has done very well with the ball, though I would like to see him get some more runs.

“Iain Critchley has had some good performances, Ben King averages 30 with the bat at number eight, as he keeps telling me, and Jack and Tom Shovelton and Simon Trim have all turned in match-winning performances.

“We are a very good bowling side, but our batting could improve. We’ve made a solid but little bit inconsistent start in the league.

“We went out of the T20 by a bonus point having won four games and we were knocked out of the Hamer Cup by Farnworth Social Circle.

“Our overseas has been struggling with the bat but his keeping has been excellent and he helps with the juniors.

“Daryl Hitchen was our second-team captain last year and he’s come up to the firsts and had a very positive influence."