NEW Braintree Cricket Club captain Dan Garner believes his team have the strength in depth to meet the promotion challenge that he has set for them this year.

Having been relegated from the top flight last year, Garner has made it clear that he is targeting a return to division one of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship in 2018.

So he is hoping to see a strong start when Braintree open their division two campaign at home against Ipswich and East Suffolk on Saturday.

Garner, who has taken over as captain this year from Will Jackson, feels there is enough strength at the club to make sure they are battling at the top of the table this year, but he knows they must play to their capabilities to ensure success.

He said: “Our biggest strength over the past few years has been the depth within the first team.

“We have nine players in and around the first team that you could argue should all score runs in the top six batting positions, while we could also pick two completely different bowling attacks and expect both to be competitive.

“I firmly believe we have some outstanding batsmen in our side, some of whom were asked to join division one teams this season.

“But over recent seasons we have not scored the runs that as a team we are capable of.”

Braintree’s cricketers - along with the rest of those in the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship - have been given an extra week to prepare for their season.

After the recent wet weather left many pitches waterlogged and made it difficult for ground staff to get on them to complete final preparations, the league have decided to delay the start of the campaign by a week.

That has meant all games that had been scheduled for the first weekend of action on April 14 have been moved to an extra weekend at the other end of the campaign.

Braintree’s scheduled opening fixture at Copdock and Old Ipswichian will now be played on September 15 and their first outing will now come at Panfield Lane on Saturday when Ipswich and East Suffolk are the visitors.

Garner will lead the side out for that game and he is setting both personal and collective goals for his team.

He added: “First and foremost I want the team to get back to winning and enjoying their cricket.

“Beyond that, personally, I want to lead from the front and score the runs that I need to for the team.

“I will want to put my own ideas into the team this season and use the depth within the club, hopefully building a healthy competition for places to build on.”