STRABANE

• Captain: Aaron Gillespie
• Overseas professional: tbc
• Players in: Usman Azhar
• Players out: Ehtesham Ahmed, Tanvir Hasan, Chris Havern.
• Young players to watch: Rhys Logue, Conor Graham.

Strabane suffered from injury and availability issues last season, and their pre-season has been disrupted by the delayed arrival of their proposed overseas professional from Pakistan.

They have signed North County opening bowler Usman Azhar who toom over 40 wickets in Dublin last season, and his arrival will offset the departures of Ehtesham Ahmed, Tanvir Hasan, and Chris Havern.

"We’re all looking forward to getting the new season underway and one we prepared well for< skipper Aaron Gillespie told CricketEurope.

 "I’m excited to see new signing Usman Azhar in action for us and I’ve been impressed during the sessions he’s had with us during the winter months.  He also brings that extra depth in our bowling unit that we’ve been looking for.

"Even though Rhys and Conor at 21 and 20 have been in around our senior team for the past four or five seasons, this year these two have come along way in all aspects of their games. I’m looking forward to seeing their hard work starting to pay off.

"We have the looks to a well balanced side and have the talent in the team to get the results that we know we are capable of build from what has been a good pre-season."

Strabane begin their season on Saturday with a tough away day trip to take on defending Premier League champions Newbuildings.