Southport Trinity vice-captain Bobby Eyes admits his side took Salman Ahmed for granted – but they’ll have to find a way to win without him.

The Indian plundered 1,747 runs in his two seasons at the Rookery, more than 400 clear of anyone else in Division Two.

Eyes is confident Australian all-rounder Dylan Rowley, who excelled in the 2nd XI last year, will do his part.

But he knows the rest of the side have to chip in to make up the gap.

He said: “We’ve had Sal for the last two years and everyone knew how good he was runs-wise, and he’s chipped in with wickets as well.

“Dylan played in the 2s last year and I don’t think we realised how good he was. 

“He’ll stand out in the 1st XI, we’re looking forward to seeing what he’ll do for us.

“But no-one’s expecting him to score anywhere near the number of runs Sal did, so we know the rest of us batters have to chip in a bit more than we have done.

“In the last couple of years, we’ve probably relied on Sal a bit too much, and got lazy.”

Eighth place was a disappointment last year for Eyes and skipper Mark Prince. 

But in 2022, they were in the promotion hunt until the last day, and the vice-captain thinks the team have what it takes to compete at the top.

He added: “Last year was disappointing but the two or three years before that, we were right up there. 

“The year before, it went down to the last game. 

“I wouldn’t want to say we’re not looking to go up but we’ll see how we get on. 

“We know we’ve got to be better than last year consistency-wise. If we can get a decent run going, there’s no reason why we can’t be challenging.”