‘Scary’ is not an adjective often used to describe a club cricket season. And Ormskirk captain Gary Knight is not the sort to use words carelessly.

Nonetheless, that is exactly how he describes the prospect of trying to build on his side’s 2024. 

Love Lane Liverpool Competition champions – the first side to go back-to-back since 2007.

Ray Digman Trophy winners. Lancashire Cup joint winners, after two washouts against Prestwich.

Two defeats all season in anything longer than a T20, only one of them – a defeat at fierce rivals Northern in the National KO quarter-finals – of any consequence.

“It’s scary when you think about it,” said Knight. “It doesn’t really sit in your head when you’re worrying about the next game and focusing on the next game.

“One bad day we had at Wigan, and losing in the National at Northern – that was it.”

But if Knight was worried about his players feeling burned out, like the Ormskirk side did after a similarly dominant season in 2017, he was in for a pleasant surprise. 

He recalled: “In 2017 it took so much effort out of the players – winning the league, getting to the National final, sharing the Lancashire cup – and the year after that, everyone was shattered. 

“Whereas when we got to the end of last season, especially with the Lancs final being rained off, people were saying ‘what’s next?’, which is really exciting.

“I do like to have a bit of time away from cricket after the season has ended, to think about what I’ve done wrong, what I can improve.

“So to have that as the last message from everyone – what’s next, we’re all excited to achieve bigger things – it’s not quite as easy as that, but at the same time it was really refreshing to hear the lads are even hungrier.”

Hunger is one thing. But the sort of consistency required to keep up those levels takes a lot of talent, and a fair amount of fortune too.

Ormskirk’s XI last year was incredibly settled, the conditions all summer were perfect for their seamers and nobody except Northern could maintain a challenge.

Those are all things that can be influenced – by working on fitness, by having an attack for all conditions, by never giving weaker opponents a sniff – but not controlled. 

If you want to make God laugh, make plans; if you want to make everyone else laugh, make predictions about club cricket. Still, all the signs are that the Big Two will maintain their supremacy for this year.

“It ebbs and flows,” said Knight. “There will be a time when Ormskirk and Northern are no longer the two best teams in the Comp. 

“As much as you can put plans in place and build for the next generation, there are two clubs at the peak of their powers with really good cricketers at the moment.”

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Ormskirk welcome back two old favourites to the top order – Mike Jones, who Knight hopes will be available between Lancashire games after joining the Red Rose from Durham, and Owen Griffiths, back after three seasons at Didsbury.

“It’s been really good to have Owen back in the squad, it makes my life a hell of a lot easier,” said Knight, whose batting line-up was short of left-handers.

In the out tray, youngsters Kiran Naidoo and Matty Aggrey have swapped Ormskirk’s fringes for the frontline at Southport & Birkdale and Orrell Red Triangle.

The skipper said: “We wish them all the best, but it comes with the territory. I couldn’t promise them 1st XI cricket here.

“I’ve still got an eye on succession planning. 

“I’m looking forward to giving Cam Hill a few more games, he’s come back a little bit bigger and stronger and I’m hoping he can provide a boost for our seam attack and take a bit of pressure off the others.”

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Other than those few tweaks, all else will be much the same. Sam Marsh, Scott Lees and Jamie Barnes will be as relentless as ever; if the weather holds up, left-armer Toby Bulcock and Aussie prospect Tom Brown might have more opportunities to show what they can do. 

And in Calum Turner, George Politis, Knight and Harvey Rankin, Ormskirk have a settled top order which can only be made stronger by Griffiths and Jones.

Which brings us back to the main question: Where do they go from here?

Two in a row is rare enough. Nobody has claimed three Comp titles on the bounce since Birkenhead Park won five in the 1960s. 

Knight’s team have as good a chance as any since then of making a little bit of history – but their leader is not looking too far ahead.

“Everything we enter, we try to win, but it’s very difficult,” he said. 

“I’ll bark at my lads all summer and be a pain in the arse all summer, and we’ll see where we end up.”