A one-run victory for Kent League Premier Division champions Lordswood in last Saturday’s friendly was ideal preparation for the new season.

Lordswood were up against Surrey side Cheam, defending 207, and they eventually bowled their opponents out for 206, the kind of match that captain Calum MacLeod felt would do them no harm going into their first league game.

MacLeod said: “Having a game like that is a really good way of getting those competitive juices going, a bit of pressure, instead of just steamrolling someone.

“A close game where you have to think, you get a lot more out of a game like that.

“We probably slightly took our foot off the gas in the middle, again that is what pre-season is for, better to do it then and not the first game of the league!”

Lordswood start their defence of the league title at home to Sandwich Town (12pm) and MacLeod knows defending it will be tough.

He said: “That’s a tricky game, always tough. I think the league is really tight, looking at the teams, they are all capable of beating each other.

“I think it would be a very naive person to think you can walk straight into the division and win it again, all the other teams have strengthened.

“We know from game one to 18 you are going to have to be on it or you will find yourself in a bit of trouble.”

MacLeod led Lordswood to the title last year in his first full season as captain but the 35-year-old former Scotland international knows 1st XI success isn’t the only thing that matters.

He said: “We are looking forward to trying to replicate it, obviously last year was a very good one for the club, this year we hope to build on that and look for another successful year, but not just the first team.

“For a club, success can be determined in different ways, obviously the first team winning is success but having a thriving youth system all the way through to the 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s that is what we want to try and build on and use the success that we have gained in the local area from winning the league and try and build on that and make it as strong a club as possible.

“I haven’t really told the lads this but if I was asked at the start of last season, with the average age of the squad and looking around at some of the other teams, if felt like we were a two-to-three year project.

“We knew we had very good players but we also knew we were going to have to blood a couple of youngsters and we were probably targetting the next couple of years to really start challenging on a consistent basis but to have won it last year shows we are capable and if we can get on a roll again this year then hopefully we can do the same.”

Consistent results last year came from consistency in team selection.

He said: “We played the same team pretty much from game one to 18, barring a couple and we have built success with our spinners, we had three of the top five in the league.

“There were a couple of stand-out wins that gave us momentum, we won a couple of games at the top end of the table that probably determined the league, thinking back to the Bexley game where we were probably losing that game and then Ed (Taylor) and Connor Dale produced a bit of magic to get us over the line.”

South African overseas player Thando Ntini is back again with MacLeod saying: “When you get an overseas you are never 100% what they will be like, but he fitted into the club perfectly, being a quite young guy he was able to get on with a lot of the youngsters and be able to help on and off the pitch, we hope he has another good year.”

And MacLeod, who teaches locally, is himself looking forward to another year captaining the side, saying: “I think as a first-team captain your role is to try and win the league but then I feel there is a wider responsibility to try and promote cricket and junior cricket, to try and integrate the first-team with a lot of junior training.

“It is a completely new challenge and one I didn’t really do when I was playing full-time so it is nice to come up against different challenges. I have really enjoyed it.”