With the season about to start a look at the changes in the squads in the CSL Eastern Premier and the WDCU Premier Division.

There has been considerable movement between clubs during the winter and the following are some of the major changes.

CSL Eastern Premier

Aberdeenshire
Professional Harsha Cooray has returned to Falkland and he will be replaced by Lesibo Ngoepe a left-arm seamer and batsman who plays for the Warriors in South Africa along with Overseas Amateur Jarod van Blerk.

Arbroath United
Arbroath had signed Haseeb Khan as their professional for the season however he had to complete an ECB Level 2 qualification to be accepted under Cricket Scotland rules.  His efforts to achieve the qualification were thwarted when two courses in England were cancelled leaving the club much to their disappointment realising that they would not be able to register him.
They have also lost Harris Carnegie who has moved to Grange where he will keep wicket replacing Alex Baum who has mover down south due to work commitments however they hope to have a South African Overseas Amateur arriving in a couple of weeks.

Carlton
The club under the captaincy of Scottish international Ally Evans have Michael Herman back replacing Mario Olivier as their overseas player. Herman has played for the club before in the 2012 season where he featured with both bat and ball. However they will not have the services of former Scotland captain Gordon Drummond for the campaign having announced his retirement at the end of last season.

Falkland
The Scroggie Park side will be captained by Stuart Campbell and he will be hoping that the arrival of Harsha Cooray as professional from Aberdeenshire will offset the loss of Safyaan Sharif moving to Fife neighbours Glenrothes and Brock Ditchman to Forfarshire.

The Sri Lankan previously was professional in the 2010 and 2011 season during which time he scored 1267 league runs and 49 wickets.

Forfarshire
There are new faces in the arrival of Chris Greaves and Ditchman along with Queenslander Matt Walter as professional/coach. Walter is a fast/medium bowler with extensive coaching experience and comes highly recommended by former players Peter Drinnen and Brad Murphy.

Their arrivals will offset the departure of Aman Bailwal to Watsonians and last year’s captain Craig Wallace who is currently playing in England.

Glenrothes
The Gilvenbank side have also been busy during the close season with the arrival of Sharif from Falkland and Aamir Shahzad and Yasar Arfat from Stenhousemuir and overseas players South Africans Aidan Justus and Chris Mohale.

They have lost Greaves to Forfarshire and Robbie Wright and Shane Munro have returned to Freuchie.

Grange
Harris Carnegie will be joined at Raeburn Place with former Durham all-rounder Dylan Budge but they have lost George Munsey (Watsonians) and Rajeev Routray (Marchmont).

Heriot’s
Keith Morton will once again be in charge at Goldenacre with the same local squad available to him along with professional Hayes Van Der Berg who is returning for a second season at the club after finishing fifth top run scorer in the league last year.

The only addition to the squad is Under 17 Zimbabwean international Sean Hinmers as their Overseas Amateur.

S.M.R.H.
The Inverleith squad is also unchanged from last year with South African Shaylen Pillay replacing Tom Beaton as pro. Pillay from the Highveld Lions is a right-handed batsman and bowls right-arm medium pace. He is joined as Overseas Amateur by another South African Cariston Diedricks

They have also added Ali Khan (Edinburgh) and Vishal Shah (Holy Cross) to their squad.

Watsonians
Ewan Chalmers will once again captain the Myside team who finished runners up last year. They will be looking to one better this time and have a strong squad to pick from with the arrival of Aman Bailwal and George Munsey.

Andy McKay who topped the wicket taking averages last year will once again be their professional.

WDCU Western Premier

Ayr
Andi McElnea is back as captain and he will once again have Michael Papps as the club professional.

The squad has been bolstered with the arrival of Michael Miller, Mark Morrison and Calum Rodger from near neighbours Prestwick.

Clydesdale
There have been a number of transfers out from Titwood with the most notable being captain Majid Haq who has moved along the M8 to ESCA Championship side RH Corstorphine.

Bowlers Abdul Sabri and Akram Shakoor have made the move to Poloc while Muhammad Afzal and Ahmad Chaudhry have made the short trip to Albert Park with Con de Lange taking over the captaincy.

Aliyan Qureshi has made the opposite move from Poloc.

Dumfries
The Nunholm side will have the same squad as last season with Australians David Carlton and Josh Forsyth taking the overseas positions.

East Kilbride
Ross Lyons has departed for Uddingston with the Sajjad brothers Saif Josh and Kess joining the club from Drumpellier along with Adil Hussain from Renfrew

They will have Jack Clark (Australia) and Petrus Coetzee (South Africa) who is returning for a second season as the overseas players as East Kilbride look to go one batter than last year’s second place finish.

Ferguslie
The Meikleriggs side have lost Hamza Tahir and Taimoor Ahmad to Poloc but have recruited Lucas Farndale from West of Scotland as they look to better their third place finish last season under new captain Jamey Carruthers.

Joining their ranks is professional Riyaad Henry son of former Scotland player Omar Henry and Overseas Amateur James Holt.

Greenock
The Glenpark squad remains unchanged as they begin life in the top flight and will be looking to Australian overseas recruits Julian Hulbert and Kyle Scrimegour to help them secure their place in the league.

Kelburne
They have lost influential Qasim Sheikh and Sameer Zia who have both joined Weirs and will be looking to South Africans Bradley Joynt and Jacques Porter to maintain their top flight status.

Poloc
League new comers Poloc have been very active over the winter attracting Sabri and Shakoor from Clydesdale and Tahir and Ahmad from Ferguslie.

With the addition of Jurie Snyman as professional and Brandon Haywood as Overseas Amateur they could be serious title contenders under the captaincy of Craig Young.

Prestwick
The Ayrshire side will once again be relying on their home grown talent with the assistance of overseas player Zimbabwean Charles Kunje and Sachin Chaudhary who has moved from Irvine.

Uddingston
Ross Lyons move from East Kilbride is a welcome addition to their squad as they look to improve on last year’s mid-table finish and their side is also bolstered with the arrival of Riley McGuire from Australia.