WHALLEY begin the defence of their Ramsbottom Cup tomorrow but skipper Richard Lamb does not believe the title of defending champions puts any extra pressure on his side.

Whalley overcame Read in a rain-affected showpiece in 2017 and begin their attempt to become the first side to win back to back Ramsbottom Cup’s since their opponents tomorrow, Ribblesdale Wanderers, did so in 2013 and 2014.

Both sides are coming into the fixture on the back of opening day victories and Lamb is looking forward to the tie, even if he wishes there had been a few more league games in advance of the cup opener.

The opening cup fixtures come in just the second week of the campaign and Lamb said: “I would rather have built some momentum up in the league first to be honest.

“But it will be good to start the defence of the cup, it was great to win it last year and we are at full strength for the weekend and looking forward to it.

“We will need five bowlers for the cup ties and hopefully we can put on a good performance.”

Whalley impressed on day one of the season to see off Euxton at Balshaw Park.

The visitors made 170-9 from their 45 overs before bowling out the hosts for 85 to secure a comfortable victory.

And Lamb was pleased with his side’s middle order batting as they recovered from 17-3.

“We have a lot of batting depth this season,” the skipper said. “Particularly with Declan Bailey coming back to us, he adds a bit of strength to that middle order and that showed as he made a half century.

“With us at 17-3 and me back in the pavilion it wasn’t a great start but I was always confident that we could bat deep.”

Sam Sweeney made 47 with the bat, which included three sixes, and he then shone with the ball as his 3-13 from 10 overs prevented Euxton getting going.

Support came from spinner Joel Blain who finished with 5-19 with only home pro Aneeq Hussaan (43) offering any real resistance.

“It was a good performance and Sam bowled really well and Joel did well with his off spin,” added Lamb.

“It is good to get the first win of the season under our belts.”

Whalley and Wanderers are joined in Group Three by Padiham and Oswaldtwistle Immanuel, who meet tomorrow, while Junior league outfit Stacksteads start their campaign next week.

Group Two includes last year’s runners-up Read, who will host the 2018 final and host Earby. Baxenden travel to Barnoldswick and Feniscowles must wait to begin their campaign.

League champions Settle are in Group One and open up against Cherry Tree while Euxton travel to Salesbury. Brinscall are also in that section.

Liam Winstanley’s side do not get their cup campaign underway until next weekend when they host Salesbury, denying them the chance to build on an impressive win over Section A outfit Baxenden.

“I think we would rather be playing but looking at the forecast I am not sure there will be too many games on so we might not miss out,” said Winstanley.

“We were pleased to start with a win but we started last season really well. I think we were second in the division after six or seven weeks and I am not sure we even won another game after that so we are not getting carried away by one win.

“It is a long season and there are a lot of games to play but it was a good result and confidence in the group is high at the moment.

“What really pleased me was that there was a good attitude from everyone and we shared the workload really, really well.”

The top two from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals with the two best third placed sides also qualifying for the last eight.