The Cannons may have been quiet on social media in recent months, but there has been no lack of activity in the club as we've been preparing for the 2026 season.
It all started last November at our AGM, where three new faces in Nihar Shah, Saravana Kumar Chandran and Manjul Singh joined incumbents Sagar Mandhan, Antony Lawrence Roche and Rudesh Audikesavalu on the Halifax CC Board. With new faces comes fresh voices and idea to take the club to the next level. We'd also like to thank departing Board members Zeeshan Ansari and Revant Sharan for their two years of service.
As we entered the new year, thoughts shifted towards recruitment, and over multiple trial sessions we recruited 20 new players to the club. 5 have played HCL before at other clubs, with 15 being brand new to the league. These new players have been selected across all 4 divisions and we look forward to what they bring us in 2026 and beyond, and hope they have a great time at the Cannons.
At the team leadership level, we've had quite a bit of turnover. Zeeshan stepped down from Div 1 captaincy after two very successful seasons, making the Final in both T20 and 40 Over in both seasons, winning one of each. Ajay Kumar takes over as our Div 1 team seeks to continue it's impressive run in recent years, with 4 successive Div 1 Finals appearances.
Div 2 sees Nihar Shah step up to lead having been a mainstay of the team since 2022, and vice-captain last season. Saravana Kumar Chandran has shifted down to Div 3 to lead that squad and provide some stability in the keeper-bat position too. In Div 4, Manjul Singh is our only continuing skipper, looking to take the team further than it's impressive semi final qualification in 2025.
Stay tuned as we hit the field against NS Avengers CC in all 4 divisions this May long weekend, here's hoping we have some great results to report on after the weekend!