THERE'S something of a revolutuion going on a 7Whalley's Station Road ground this season.

Last year, the club picked up the wooden spoon after they finished rock bottom of the Veka Ribblesdale Senior League, finishing 17 points behind second-bottom side Edenfield with just 28 points from their 26 games.

But this season the club has undergone an incredible transformation. They have won two games out of six so far and sit comfortably in mid-table with 20 points.

But skipper Martin Davies can't fully explain the reasons for the turnaround in fortunes.

He said: "We have got a couple of new players, Ben Dowling from Enfield and John Rain from Longridge.

"Ben has done a great job opening the bowling. He's a fresh face and taken a few wickets. I played with John at Ribblesdale Wanderers and I knew he was a good bat and he's certainly brought stability to the middle order.

"We got off to a bad start last season and the confidence just went from there. But we're a different team this year. I can't really put my finger on why.

"Despite all the troubles we had we've got a really good team spirit and even though we lost a lot of games we never got down. Our pro Josh Marquet got injured early on last season and he never really recovered and that was a big loss to us - especially with the level of cricket he plays at.

"But our pro this season, Phil Thornton, has done well. He's got great experience in league cricket after captaining the likes of Morecambe. He's a big-hitting batsman and he got 50 at Read. Once the wickets get a bit harder I'm sure he'll score a lot of runs."

But Davies isn't resting on his laurels and is hoping he can get two important members of his squad back fit so his side can push for a top-half finish.

He added: "We're hoping to get Lee Kearsley and Simon Gorton back fit soon. Simon is probably one of the best amatuer bowlers in the league and if we can get everyone fit I'll hopefully be able to field a fully-fit squad for the first time and try to finish in top six, with a bit of luck."

Whalley face fixtures against Earby at home and Settle away this weekend.