Long-serving overseas professional Maisam Hasnain has opted to stand down as Whitchurch skipper after just a season in charge – but the Pakistani run machine has agreed to stay at Heath Road for another four years.
Derek Ashley, the experienced former Shropshire wicketkeeper, will replace Hasnain as first team skipper and is likely to take charge of a very different looking Whitchurch side when the Birmingham Cricket League third division season gets under way in April.
Whitchurch included several imports from the West Midlands in their team last season, among them Aqsad Ali, Zaheer Suliman and Amjaad Ali Khan, as they narrowly missed out on gaining promotion.
And, while negotiations with the players are ongoing, club chairman Paul Wojda revealed it’s unlikely any of them will return to north Shropshire this year as Whitchurch instead turn to their home grown youngsters.
“We’re probably not going to have any of the guys from Birmingham and Wolverhampton again,” said Wojda.
“They did a fantastic job while our young guys were coming through and they loved playing at Whitchurch and the area.
“But I don’t think any of them will be coming back the way negotiations are going. We’re a small club who rely on sponsors and it’s not a bottomless pit. We’ve got to be sensible.”
Wojda, however, is delighted the popular Hasnain has agreed to extend his stay at the club for another four years and said everyone at Heath Road fully understood his reasons for relinquishing the captaincy.
“Mas is Whitchurch through and through and this will be his 10th year,” reflected Wojda. “He felt his game suffered from being captain and we all agree his happiness on the field is our happiness as well.”
Hasnain, also a respected coach at the club, still cracked over 600 league runs last term but it was down on his usual tally of around 1,000 runs.
Hasnain recently returned to Whitchurch from a few weeks back home in Pakistan and will be spending plenty of time helping to coach the club’s prospects.
Wojda added that in Ashley, a regular in the Shropshire over-50s side, Whitchurch had the ideal man, boasting a wealth of experience, to take over as skipper. Ashley will also continue to fill the role of club captain.
Wojda is excited by the number of talented youngsters coming through the ranks and expects many of them to be pushing for first team places.