Brondesbury ask Fosbraey to lead revival after relegation to Division Two

Brondesbury have turned to a familiar face from the past as they prepare for life in the unfamiliar surroundings of Division Two in the Middlesex County Cricket League.

Spinner John Fosbraey was a member of the Brondesbury side who were crowned league champions a decade ago and finished runners-up in the next two seasons.

He also captained the team for two years before departing in acrimonious circumstances at the end of the 2010 season.

But Brondesbury’s relegation from the top flight last year – the first in the club’s history – prompted a significant shake-up and the return of Fosbraey to skipper a much-changed team.

Batsmen James Overy, who will be Fosbraey’s deputy, and club stalwart Tom Simpson, along with seamers Sam Smith and Ali Raza, are the only survivors from a side that won just three games last season.

“I’d started to think about giving it up, but I was asked to help out at Brondesbury and a few things have changed, so I’m happy to do so,” Fosbraey told Ham&High Sport.

“Tommy Simpson’s a bit like a raven at the Tower of London and he’s still as keen as ever but, apart from James and Sam, everyone else seems to have migrated.

“The plan is that James will be running things in future and I’m going to try and help us through this first season. I expect this to be a tough league to get out of and we need to start playing good cricket from ball one.

“Maybe the club needed something serious to happen. There will be seven or eight players in our first league game who weren’t involved last year, so it’s a massive culture change and a clean slate.

“I think we’ve got a good squad, but we haven’t got a plan to go back up straight away, we’re just going to concentrate on ourselves and getting a good brand of cricket going.”