NEW Tavistock CC captain Sean Cleave is aiming to build on the achievements of predecessor Charlie Barriball in the cricket season ahead.

Barriball has stepped down after two years as skipper due to too many Saturday shifts at work affecting his availability.

Tavistock have had an unhappy knack of shuttling between the A and B Divisions of the Tolchards DCL over the past decade, something Barriball managed to prevent.

Cleave, a one-club man through and through, hopes to take Tavistock a step further.

“Our target will be to build on where we left off last season,” said Cleave, who has been involved with Tavistock for 21 seasons.

“Charlie did a fantastic job securing our A Division status for the last two seasons – and staying there is again our priority.

“But I think we showed enough about us at the latter end of last season to give us belief we can challenge with the best of them in this division.”

Cleave isn’t a captaincy novice as he filled in as vice-captain for Barriball last season and has skippered the team in Twenty20 competitions.

Barriball has committed to playing when he can in the summer ahead but is the first to acknowledge that patchy availability in general is an issue for Tavistock.

“One thing the club needs to change, rather ironically as mine is no longer perfect, is availability. We have to chop and change far too much and never seem to have a similar 11 from week to week.”

Cleave has no new signings to report yet but is on the lookout for any players who could strengthen the squad.

Sri Lankan Dimuth Sandaruwan – 293 league runs, 17 league wickets – is not returning for a second summer at the Ring. Cleave said replacing Sandaruwan is a priority.

“We are in the later stages of securing a top-order batsman from South Africa, but it is not 100 percent sorted yet,” said Cleave.