By Callum Hansey

Halstead Cricket Club’s return to division one of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship was swift in coming as they have bounced back from their 2013 relegation and make a top-flight return this year.

Josh Wells will take over as club captain at the Star Stile outfit, having returned at the start of last season from a year with Saffron Walden, with the season due to start on April 18 with a home game against Worlington.

Last year’s skipper, Charlie Douglas-Hughes, has become head coach of a revamped Colts section, with Wells coaching a newly-formed Colts Academy.

The 2015 campaign sees the return of South African, Dylan Verreynne, who will captain Halstead’s North Essex Cricket League division one side on Sundays, with former Braintree batsman Ollie Grayson and bowler Harry Veal joining the Star Stile outfit this year.

Wells can also count on the input of a club legend in the form of Phil Toogood, who will be performing an advisory role to the 20-year-old skipper.

Toogood averaged 46.82 with the bat and 16.92 with the ball in an illustrious 24-year career in the Halstead first team.

Tomorrow will see the squad meeting up for the first outdoor training session of the year at 11am, when they will make use of the newly-spruced up facilities at Star Stile.

They will be followed by the second and third teams at 2pm, when there will be training for the first time under new captains Andy Rose and Steve Macklin respectively.

Rose was captain of the thirds last year and will make the step-up to leading the Two Counties Championship division three side, while Macklin takes charge of a third team that is looking to perform well again in division eight south.