HALESOWEN CC player Wes Griffiths has been named Midlands club cricket wicketkeeper of the year for his performances in 2017.

Griffiths helped lead Hales to promotion to Division One of the Birmingham and District Premier League and will pick up his award at a presentation dinner next next month.

His 37 catches and four stumpings breaks a club record stretching back some years to the halcyon days of Steve Thompson in the Midlands Club Cricket Championship of the mid 90s.

Griffiths said: "Winning this award is truly an honour and is a fitting conclusion to a season where the sum of the parts were greater than the whole in a run which saw the team claw back an 83 point deficit allied to a bottom of the table position to promotion and I am proud to have been a part if it."

Commenting on the success, head of cricket Richard Cox said: "We are really happy for Wes and know that he will be integral to the 2018 season and the step up. Its great news for him and the club."

Meanwhile, Halesowen players will return to pre-season training this weekend and will see some changes to the cricket management of the club.

Cox’s shift to the head of cricket role comes about due to a change of work circumstances with the sport’s governing body, England and Wales Cricket Board, where he is responsible for cricket in the West Midlands region.

He will continue to coach at the club but feels the time is right to progress some younger coaches.

With new club captain Alexei Kervezee in place, Cox moves to oversee more of the cricket playing side across the club whilst supporting a new coaching set-up.

He added: "It’s a natural progression really and one which we have been moving towards for a while. I have been coaching for 35 years at all levels and it’s a good time to bring in fresher younger ideas as the game changes so quickly these days and its good for the players to get fresh input as we are at the start of a new venture in a higher division.

"I will also spend some more time with our youngsters."

The club have already had a decent winter on the transfer front with Kervezee, Jack Myers and Rob Horn already signed and two or three others expected to complete their documentation over the coming month.