BLACKROD captain Joey Pryle admits he would not dream of swapping professional Thushendra de Zoysa after watching him star with 8-10 in Saturday’s first victory of the season over Darcy Lever.

De Zoysa returned stunning figures from 10.5 overs of seamers with the new ball to skittle inexperienced Darcy, chasing 189, for just 33, with injured Andy Patel not batting.

The talismanic Sri Lankan took his tally of wickets to 13 in three Association matches this summer. Earlier, he hit 22 in Blackrod’s 188 all out.

After recovering from season-opening defeats to Golborne and Tonge, a relieved Pryle said: “Tush is part of the foundations.

“For me, 40 per cent of what a professional does is on the pitch. The rest is off it, coaching the kids, etc.

“As I talk to you, he’s out with the little kids playing football on the pitch. He’s involved in everything we do. I wouldn't swap him for anything.

“I came back to the club from living in Australia and America in 2008, the same year he joined.

“We made him pro in 2012 or 2013, and he’s just kicked on. He was performing really well as an amateur, but he’s gone to another level.

“All the lads love him, and he will be very very hard to replace.

“For example, he would have missed the first Peter Stafford Trophy game (rained off against Darcy Lever) because his dad died and he went home for the funeral.

“So I was scratching around for a stand-in pro.

“He’s classed as an English-based player now because he’s lived here for so long, meaning we have to go like for like. And there’s only four players who fit that bill in the Lancashire League.

“I know one day we’re going to have to replace him, but not yet.”

Last year, Blackrod narrowly missed out on promotion, finishing four points behind Daisy Hill. And while Pryle was prepared for a testing start to 2018 due to unavailability, he wasn't expecting them to be as slow out of the blocks as they have been.

He said: “Even though we are missing a few, with the team we have, we believe we should have won those first two games. We let ourselves down.

“Thankfully, this game was better. The middle order stood up, and we didn’t just rely on Tush, although he did perform with the ball.

“He just bowled it straight.

“He’s actually said to me ‘I’m going to start bowling spin’. He’s the same age as me, we’re both 40 this time. So he said ‘I’m going to have to start bowling spin’.

“I’ve said ‘No you’re not, carry on as you are’.”

Jack Southworth top-scored with 73 off 83 balls for Blackrod, with Pryle adding: “Hopefully we can get on a run and get back to the standards we set last season.

“I said to the players before the game ‘We’re here to enjoy our cricket, it’s not a job’.

“Over the first few weeks we’ve put pressure on ourselves, but we want to have fun and be a group of lads who are together.

“Thankfully, we’re together again.”