A WEEK is a long time in cricket. Ask Clitheroe skipper Simon Coulter.

Before the Bank Holiday weekend, The Chatburn Road side were sitting pretty in the league with defeat against Padiham in the Ramsbottom Cup the only blot on their copybook.

But defeats at the hands of Earby and Ribblesdale Wanderers saw Coulter's men take a tumble down the table to leave them in the chasing pack behind leaders Baxenden.

But Coulter is adamant that the weekend was just a blip as they look to get back to winning ways against Blackburn Northern on Saturday.

He said: "We've had an excellent start to the season up to the weekend. Then everything seemed to fall by the wayside a little bit.

In the first few games, the openers got us off to a really good start and then the likes of myself, Dan Glover and Danny Turner have been able to try and score quick runs down the order.

"But last weekend, the batting didn't do itself justice and we lost two games we really should have won.

"We thought the game against Great Harwood a couple of weeks ago was the big test for us and we came through with flying colours.

"That was a great win for us because Great Harwood will be up there come the end of the season whereas I don't think Earby and Ribblesdale Wanderers will.

"But that's the way the league is going this season. It's going to be a really close-run thing this year because there are a lot of teams good enough to win it."

The new skipper had big boots to fill when he replaced Neil Bolton in the close season after Clitheroe did the treble last season.

And Coulter says he's hoping to mark his first term in charge with a trophy.

He added: "Neil Bolton's boots were big boots to fill after what we did last season. But we've got a settled team and there's been no selection headaches so far. A successful team picks itself and I'm hoping we get a good response against Blackburn Northern this weekend.

"We've got a lot of experienced players who are always on hand to give advice.

"It's going to be a close league this year and I'll be very disappointed if we don't make the top four at least.

"I think it's going to take one team to put a tremendous run together who will come out on top. It's a league in which everybody could beat everybody on their day."

New Zealand international Michael Papps, Clitheroe's paid man, has been churning out the runs this season with 278 so far this season.

But it's the bowling that has most impressed Coulter.

He said: "The bowling and fielding has been great until last weekend. Josh Marquet has been outstanding but Mark Hargreaves has done a great job too.

"He hadn't bowled for about two years because Naeem Ashraf and Farooq Butt (now at Blackburn Northern) were doing a lot of the bowling.

"But the year before that he had about 40 wickets and I reckon he'll be looking to get the same this year.

"A lot of people are thinking that all they have to do is see Josh off and look to score off Mark but he's a good bowler and not to be taken lightly."

He added: "Michael's looked really good. He almost missed the weekend's games because he was ill but other than the weekend, he's been outstanding.

"He's a great player and it's easy to see why he's an international."