Mrreal summed it up in his post, We have brought in a number of players but these lads are of a good age who are buying into the plan we have in place to get all 1st, 2nd and 3rd XI teams into the Premier League within 3 seasons. Our 3XI went up last year so we are on course to achieve our targets, Just need to make sure one or ideally both of our 1st and 2nd XI go up this year.
Cole Pearce is a cracking young lad who's superb behind the stumps and also now coaches all of our young wicket keepers, He was let go by the academy due to injuries.
Adam Randall came from Newton Aycliffe, Young left armer who has been injured for a long time but is gradually getting back to his best, 21 years old and opens the bowling for the first team.
Melvyn Betts is the clubs professional who brings bags of experience having played cricket for Durham, Middlesex and Warwickshire.
Shurbs as mentioned has came from Sunderland and will be straight into the first team to open the batting, I'd imagine..
Thats the list of signings we've made this year, We've also got a new left arm bowler in the second team who has shown glimpses of brilliance.
From the 1st XI that played on Saturday the 2 openers were under 18, One has came all the way through from the under 11's and the other was signed last year after not being given a chance at Philli. Andy Ebdale, Mark Watson and Joe Thompson are also all products from Washington. The rest are made up of lads who have joined the club over the last few years (unpaid) and then the captain, Ash Thorpe.
The signings obviously have a big impact on the 2XI which makes the team stronger, We now have the old first XI captain in the second team along with Daz Hickey and a number of young lads coming through. From the side that played on Saturday, 9 players have played at Washington their whole life with 7 under the age of 23. Matty Brown, a young wicketkeeper made his debut for the seconds at 12 years old too.
Things are looking promising and by no means anywhere near the expenditure some people assume Washington are spending to accumulate this squad of players.