He revealed that all the practices have been “really well attended”, and he’s “pretty optimistic” for the season, while being aware of the threat that Carnforth pose to Westgate’s title chances.

On the practice sessions, he said: “The practices down at Westgate have been phenomenal this year, they’ve been really well attended, we’ve had over 20/25 people at the last couple of ones since it’s got a little bit warmer as well so that’s been fantastic.

“We’ve had a good wicket from the groundsman so practice has been fantastic. It’s been really good and positive so far. The preparation has been good basically – it couldn’t have gone much better really.”

However, Westgate have suffered a major blow as key player Craig Buchanan isn’t set to play for the club this season.

Buchanan, who opened the batting for Westgate over the last few years, scored 412 runs for the club last season, averaging 31.69.

“At the end of the day, Craig is one of the best batsmen in the league. He’s still relatively young, but he’s developed into one of the best batsmen in the league,” Hill said.

“He opens the batting, he averages probably high 30s if not 40s, definitely in the last year, and to do that at Westgate is a fantastic effort.

“He’s going to be a massive miss but no matter how many runs he gets – whether it’s 500 runs or whatever, I think we’re going to have to find ways to make up those runs.

“I think he’ll be a big miss, don’t get me wrong, but we’ll find runs from other players who weren’t necessarily getting a bat. We’ll obviously have to reshuffle the order a bit but we’ll find a way of making up the deficit somehow.”

Carnforth were the only team who Westgate failed to beat in a completed game last season, and they suffered defeats in the Hackney & Leigh T20 Cup final and the Colin Bolton and Jim Dixon Trophy final respectively.

The two sides will face each other at least four times this season, as they’re in the same group in the Hackney & Leigh T20 Cup. Bare are the other side to make up the group.

Reflecting on the two games against Carnforth last season, Hill said: “I actually don’t think we played our best cricket that day [T20 final].

“I think if we’d have played to the same level that we’d been playing in the league games against everyone else, we probably would’ve won at least one of those two games but I think we’re capable of doing it.
“I think maybe because Carnforth have been so dominant, I think there’s an invincibility about them which might’ve affected some of the players on the day so hopefully if we can overcome that, that’ll be enough to beat them.”

He added: “Carnforth have set such a good standard and they have done for the last three years now, so they’re quite a long way ahead of everybody but if they are to slip up, I’m probably quite confident that we can be one of the teams to pick them off.

“Optimism is good, the players are all here and looking forward to a full season, a proper season so providing we play at the same level as last year then we should be alright so I’m looking forward to it.”

The focus for Westgate turns to Silverdale tomorrow, who they face away from home. Their opponents played a pre-season friendly against Gregson last weekend and scored over 200.

Hill believes that both sides are capable of posting big scores tomorrow.

“The last couple of times we’ve played there, we have got around 200. We actually got 200 a couple of years ago and lost so they knocked them off, it was an absolutely thrilling game other than the fact we lost it which was gutting but it was a really good game of cricket,” he said.

“I think last time we played there Craig Buchanan, who’s not playing this year, got 100 and some of the lads got some runs and we got a big score so because of the nature of the ground (it’s a small ground) there’s always a risk that if somebody gets in, they can get a big score as an individual. I think it’s a good place to play cricket as well.

“The bowlers have got a chance and if the batsmen get in, they can cash in as well so either side would be capable of getting a big score I think. I don’t think 200 for either side would be out of the question.”

The Westgate side to face Silverdale tomorrow is: Andy Hill (capt), Dylan Conroy (vice-capt), Sam Frith (vice-capt), Zak Buchanan, Chris Carter (wk), Sam Conroy, Matthew Hannigan, Jack Huntington, Andy Nisbet, Garry Tattersall and Jacob Vaughan.