LAURELVALE
- Captain: David Sinton
- Overseas professional: none
- Players in: none
- Players out: none
- Young players to watch: John Livingstone and John Speers.
It's been a bit of a fairytale year for Laurelvale, who after an impressive 2025 to finish runners-up in Section One, got an unexpected chance to play in the Premiership after Carrickfergus declined their promotion.
There's further good news for Laurelvale in that the season is a 'free hit' for them with no relegation from the top flight in 2026.
It's been a quiet winter at the club with no high profile arrivals or departures, and they've also opted to build up their resources by not having an overseas professional for the upcoming campaign.
David Sinton is their captain on their return to the top flight, having last played at this level way back in 1972, when some of the acts topping the UL charts included Slade, T-Rex, Donny Osmond, Alice Cooper, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Lieutenant Pigeon and David Cassidy.
"It's a huge step up for us this year after an unexpected promotion to the Premier League," skipper Sinton told CricketEurope.
"We may find ourselves in this position through default but we only lost one of our last 12 games last season which has seen us presented with a great opportunity, one which the squad were keen to grasp.
"Given the news of no relegation this year we are going into the season with the same squad and no overseas professional. We know how difficult a challenge this will be but it’s important to let our squad develop at this level for a season and then look to strengthen next season.
"The players have put in the hard work over the indoor nets and the mood around the club has been good. This has been the catalyst to help improve standards on and off the pitch and the signs so far have been encouraging," he added.
"Young players like John Livingstone and John Speers have been around the squad for a few years now and this is an excellent opportunity for them to progress and develop further.
"As well as that we have more senior players like Adnan Malik, Mark Thornbury and Adam Speers who have performed well over the last few years in Section One and will be keen to test themselves at a higher level."
It should be quite the season down Laurelvale way!
