KENDAL skipper Stu Parkin admits there are already a ‘few irons in the fire’ as the club looks to replace New Zealand professional Jamie How for next year’s campaign.

The Shap Road outfit ended their season with a four wicket loss at St Annes to finish seventh in Division One of the Northern Cricket League.

And just days following the curtain coming down on the season, Parkin admits attention is already turning to April - with finding a suitable professional one of the biggest jobs on the cards.

“Looking at the make-up of the side it would be nice to have a bowling all rounder,” he said. “The ideal would be somebody like Blackpool’s professional Christi Viljeon who has taken more than 100 wickets and scored hundreds of runs but it is just a case of finding that person and putting the right package together to secure their services.

“There is a group of people in charge of sourcing a professional. We know the type of player we want and we also have our eyes on a couple of players to strengthen the amateur ranks so who knows where we might be in six months time.

“We have a lot of contacts with Jamie in New Zealand and also Graham Aldridge who is a good friend of mine and I am in constant contact with him.

“There is also Alex Doolan in Australia and Ross McMillan in South Africa and then we have all the agents we can go to as well.

“It is quite an exciting time over the winter for the lads. The first question they ask is who the new professional is going to be.

“There are a few irons in the fire and ideas about what direction we are going to take so it’s just a case of waiting and seeing.”

And new father Parkin admits he has his own decisions to make when it comes to captaincy next year.

“I am a little but undecided,” he said. “It is a big committment to make and I now have a young family as well as my business. I have found it rewarding but tough so I am going to have a sit down and good think about whether I can lead the club forward or whether I should just concentrate on playing.”

He added: “It is a difficult job being a captain and bowler. I don’t think I’ve done a bad job but I’ll be the first I am not the best tactician you will ever meet but my heart is in the right place and I think that counts for a lot more than having the cricketing nous.”

Reflecting on the season, Parkin concedes his team have not played to their potential but believes there have been many positives.

“We have underperformed massively,” said Parkin, who cited Nick Lewthwaite’s eight wicket haul at Leyland and Jamie’s How batting performance at Lancaster as highlights.

“At the start of the season I would have put us on for at least some silverware. We came very close in the Cumbria Cup and League Cup but feel we did lack a couple of bowlers particularly when we lost Jack White to Penrith early on.

“Young Ryan Shepherd came in from Burneside and scored about 400 runs in all competitions which isn’t a bad effort coming up from the Westmorland League so we are expecting big things from him next year with that year’s worth of experience.”