Weston head coach Sam Trego hopes Saturday’s home game with Congresbury at Devonshire Road goes as “smoothly as possible”.

Weston Mercury: Sam Elstone scored 42 runs in his first game for Weston during their 137 run defeat to Congresbury.Sam Elstone scored 42 runs in his first game for Weston during their 137 run defeat to Congresbury. (Image: Archant)

Both sides took part in their first game of 2020 last Saturday at the King George V Playing Field, which saw the hosts win by 137 runs after the visitors were bowled out for 138.

And Trego says he is ready to enjoy their first game on home soil since beating Winterbourne to avoid relegation last September.

“We are really looking forward to hosting our first home game since lockdown and hope it goes as smoothly as possible,” said Trego.

“We have had the bar open over the past few weekends so we have plenty of hand sanitiser stations and a one-way system inside the clubhouse.

“Outside we will have gazebos set up for home and away teams and all the benches will be the correct distance apart.

“We will have plenty of room outside the boundary for people to bring their own chairs and a picnic if they’d like to spend the afternoon in the sun watching some local cricket.

“We all appreciate that these are still uncertain times, but we’ve been given the go-ahead to play cricket so for now we will put on as much senior and junior cricket as we can, but we will also be sticking to the guidelines that are set out by the ECB and the government.”

Weston’s line-up last weekend included eight under-19 players and five under-15s, leaving Trego “thrilled” despite the defeat. He added: “We went to Congresbury with the mindset of getting some great experience for these young lads and I’m hoping this will make them want to play more first-team cricket for years to come.

“We also had Sam Elstone make his debut for the club after making the move from Uphill Castle during the winter and he batted superbly at the top of the order and along with many other youngsters he brought plenty of energy to the team.

“It was a strange experience to be playing our first game in the middle of July!

“Congresbury Cricket Club made us feel very welcome and made a fantastic effort in making both players and supporters feel very safe.

“It was fantastic to be out on the boundary watching both clubs giving 100 per cent for their teams.

“It was also great to see such a good crowd at Congresbury for a friendly match and I really hope the people of Weston come down to Devonshire Road this coming weekend to watch the return game.”