OVERSEAS signing Bradley Dial is set to make his Lechlade debut when the riverside club host Tewkesbury at the Manor Ground this weekend.

Dial, a South Africa under 19 international, arrived in the UK in midweek and goes straight into the Lechlade middle order for their second WEPL Glos/Wilts Division outing of the campaign.

All-rounder Will Nichols is also included in the hosts’ XI, as they look to continue their fine form at the start of the new season.

Coach Luke Sellers said: “Last week’s result was a great start to the season. Both Michael (Craigs) and Joe (Breet) had great opening-day performances and the rest of the lads all chipped in with something.

“It was a great team performance all round. Competition for places this year will be fierce and with Will (Nichols) returning and Brad (Dial) arriving everyone will have to be on their A game to maintain their place.

“We have a quality squad with depth this year with 16 or so lads all pushing for a place in the first team which is a healthy and great position for the club to be in.”

Lechlade, fresh from their comfortable win against Gloucester City Winget last Saturday, will be looking to build on their lead at the top of the table.

Lechlade captain Breet said: “We have set out our stall from the start of the season to maximise our points return from every game we play. If we do this we could pick up an extra one or two points a game and this, over the course of the season, could be worth an extra 20 to 30 points and this could be huge, bearing in mind we missed out on promotion last year by just eight points.”

Breet will be hoping his opening-day form, which saw him score a century off just 92 balls in his 119 at the Spa Ground, and Craigs’s, which saw him secure a hat-trick in his first over for the club, will continue.

The skipper said: “We have such a wealth of talent in the side this year that I am confident we will always have at least one if not two or more of us putting in a match winning performance per game. The ethos that I have tried to install this year is that we are a team and great performance can come in many guises and support rolls will be as important throughout this season in chasing promotion.”