HALSTEAD Cricket Club captain Josh Wells wants to see his team up among the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division one title contenders this year.

Wells is preparing to begin his fourth season as first-team captain at Star Stile ahead of the start of the 2018 campaign on Saturday when they will open with a home game against newly-promoted Ipswich.

Halstead finished eighth in the top-flight last year and while they were comfortably clear of any relegation threat, Wells felt they could have pushed higher and doesn't want any opportunities to be up among the title-chasers to pass them by this season.

He said: "We felt we could have done better last year as there were missed opportunities.

"It was a mid-table finish in the end and a very stable position, but there was a time in the season when we could have pushed on but let it slip a bit.

"We got ourselves in the position but we just couldn't push on, so it would be nice to be able to do that this year.

"We want to be among the title contenders as I feel the division is going to be pretty similar to last year where the title really is up for grabs.

"I can't see any team running away with it - just as it was last year.

"Whether it is a stronger division than last year, I don't know, but I can see it being very competitive.

"So we have to put ourselves in a position to take advantage of that and it's important that we make a good start.

"We can put ourselves up there because we know that if we play to our potential, we can beat anyone in the league."

Wells was pleased that the club hadn't lost any players over the winter, so there would be continuity from last year and he was also delighted to have added extra depth to the squad with some new signings.

"No-one has left us which is always a big thing and we have added in some new players as well so we will have even greater depth," added the Halstead skipper.

"I don't think many clubs will have an overseas player after what happened last year with the Home Office rulings and we won't have one again this year, but we have got three who have joined us from local clubs.

"Josh King is a left arm spinner who has come in after spending a winter in Australia and Craig Spooner has joined from the same club as we got Chris Huntington last year - Rettendon.

"Craig is an all-rounder who is a left-arm spinner as well and the other new player to come in is Josh Ruthven, who has joined us from Haverhill and is a batting all-rounder.

"It's good that we've added more depth to the squad and, having not lost anyone, I think we'll see more competition for places this year.

"It's not something that we consciously identified, but the chance to bring good cricketers to the club is always one we look to take.

"We were quite dependent on people coming back from university last year and we shouldn't have that problem this year as most have graduated so hopefully we should see strength through the summer.

"I think we should have a well-balanced side.

"We've got the new spinners come in and that will give us a lot of options that we can use."