CAPTAIN Jack Wainman is confident the good times will return to Eagley, despite their difficult start to 2018.

Wainman’s side currently sit bottom of the Association division with two wins from nine and are out of all cup competitions.

However, the former Astley Bridge man is refusing to be downbeat having seen enough positives during the first half of the summer to suggest results will come in the short-term.

In the long-term, he has high hopes that his young group of players will challenge much higher up the BCL ladder with more experience.

“I don’t think we’re a million miles away in terms of performance,” said wicketkeeper Wainman, whose side actually won their opening league game against Darcy Lever in April.

“Don’t get me wrong, it has been disappointing to lose games. But wins are going to come if we carry on playing the way we have.

“A big positive is that the spirit’s good.

“I know we can do it, and the lads know they can do it. It’s just all about keeping our chins up.

“We’ve got a young side with so little experience. But in a couple of years’ time, we’re going to have three or four really good players.

“We worked it out the other day – our average age is just over 23.

“We’ve got four or five 17-year-olds, and our oldest player is Danny Counsell. He’s only 33. Our professional (Kasun Adikari from Sri Lanka) is 24.

“In a few years’ time, the likes of Louis Seigne, James Richards, James Fallows, are going to be really good. They’re showing signs now.

“It’s just a lack of experience at the moment.

“We lost Paul Rayment last year.

“He swears that was his last season, but we might be having words. There’s still some life in him yet, 100 per cent!”

Wainman joined Eagley midway through 2013 and said: “When I first arrived, I played in a side that won one game all year in 2014. Then, two years later, we qualified for the Premier. It shows how quickly it can turn.

“The last thing I want is the juniors getting too disappointed and thinking of it as the impossible.”

Wainman, who highlighted their fielding as an area for improvement, referenced Louis Seigne’s maiden first-team fifty (75) in last weekend’s Peter Stafford Trophy defeat against Golborne as one significant positive.

The pro and ex-Sri Lanka under 19 Adikari being the leading run-scorer in the Association with 474 runs from nine outings having joined from Bury is another.

“The pro’s batting brilliantly,” he said.

“His next aim should be to bat for 50 overs. If he can bat and let everyone else play around him, that would then show the junior lads how to do it.”

After next weekend’s return league clash with Darcy Lever, Eagley face the top three sides in Little Lever, Astley Bridge and Adlington: “We have nothing to lose,” said Wainman.

Off the field, Eagley’s clubhouse renovation has just been completed in the last fortnight.

Wainman added: “The club and social side of things is absolutely fantastic.”