CRICKET: Crosby takes over as Oxford skipper (From The Oxford Times)

CRICKET: Crosby takes over as Oxford skipper

10:00am Thursday 19th January 2012 in Cricket By Ed Mezzetti

OXFORD CC’s new captain Ian Crosby said the time was right for him to step up.

But Crosby, who has taken on the role after former skipper and coach Jason Harrison left the club, is ruling out wholesale changes.

The 30-year-old batsman said: “I have been vice-captain for the last two seasons, so it was something that Jason and (director of cricket) Rupert Evans spoke about before.

“I have captained the 20-over side for the last couple of seasons with decent success and it is something I am looking forward to.

“My aim is to continue the pro-gress that the club have made under Jason Harrison.

“I feel like the captaincy role has come at the right time.

“This will be my tenth season for Oxford in the Home Counties Premier League.

“I feel I have got the experience to do a good job.”

As well as Harrison, Oxford have also lost Buckinghamshire pacemen Usman Arif.

But Crosby stressed: “I won’t be looking to make wholesale changes.

“We have got Tom Geeson-Brown, who is a good young seamer and has played for the county.

“This will create more opportunities for him and there is also Stefan Van Dyk, who had a great first season at the club in 2010.

“Seam bowling is not an area we are massively looking to strengthen, but we are looking to bring a top-order batsman in.

“We need to replace Jason with quality.”

Crosby’s promotion comes as Joe Porter takes over as chairman from Ian Pickford, who stepped down due to work commitments.

“He will bring a lot of energy to the role,” said Crosby. “I will work well with him, we are good friends.”

Evans said: “As a club we have got to recognise and thank Jason for what he has done. He has been a tremendous success.

“But we had Crozzer installed as vice-captain two years ago and he has captained the side in the 45-over competition on Sundays and in the Twenty20 for two years.

“So it is a succession plan and he has just moved up, so hopefully it will be a seamless transition.”

Harrison had also been first-team coach, but Evans said there were no plans to seek someone to fill that role.

“We will look at that in other ways,” he added. “We will cover that between us.”