NEW Adlington captain Simon Trim is expecting the race for silverware and promotion in the Association division to be wide open this summer.

Trim has replaced Jon Howells as skipper at Huyton Road and oversaw their first victory of 2018 at Astley Bridge on Saturday.

Adlington, having lost the toss, bowled their hosts out for 130 before overhauling their target with three wickets in hand and 11.5 overs to spare.

“This league is going to be such a tight league,” said Trim.

“There’s no standout team that’s going to run away with it. It’s going to be close run.

“We lost a few players from last year, so really our aim is to get mid-table or above. If possible, we’d love to get promotion. But I’m not going to sit here and say ‘That’s what we’re aiming at’ because we’re a team that’s being rebuilt.

“I think we’ve got the team to be competitive, though.”

On the competitive nature of the Association division, he continued: “It’s as competitive a competition as I’ve been involved in.

“There’s no teams in it who you know you will just turn up and roll over. You did get the odd one like that in the old Bolton Association.

“I like the two-divisions side of it. It gives you something to play for for longer.”

Trim, who has played all his cricket at Adlington, says he is enjoying the challenge of being a captain.

“I’ve not done it since under-15s,” he laughed.

“It’s great to win and get one under our belts, my first as captain, after losing last week and in the cup (Peter Stafford Trophy).

Left-arm spinner Iain Critchley finished with the pick of the Adlington bowling figures, claiming 4-22 from his 13 overs, while new professional Kamran Hussain’s left-arm seamers returned 3-31 from 11.

Trim, however, reserved praise for Saj Khan, who set the tone with the new ball despite going wicketless.

“Saj was really the best bowler on show, but he just couldn’t get the breakthrough. He bowled an amazing spell and was very unlucky,” said the skipper.

Khan was to have a further impact on the game, as he top-scored with the bat, hitting 41 off 58 balls from number six in the order.

The early stages of Adlington’s chase were rocky as they slipped to 48-4 inside 16 overs. Trim was first to go for four and pro Hussain later fell for 18.

That was when Khan intervened, helped along by wicketkeeper Uzair Shafiq, whose unbeaten 75-ball 39 was just as important.

They shared 68 inside 17 overs to calm any nerves in the visiting dressing room, with Khan hitting five sixes and no fours before falling to Jack Bentham with just 16 required.

Bridge added two further consolatory wickets.

“It was a little bit twitchy, but it was certainly well within our capabilities,” added Trim. “That was shown when Saj and Uzair put that stand on.”