The Central Counties will have a new team competing this weekend when North Village make their debut in the competition against holders Western Stars at St John’s Field.

Next season two other teams could return, with Young Men’s Social Club and Police both showing an interest in the competition.

Both teams have dropped out of domestic cricket in the past few years, leaving the Central Counties down to just two teams, Western Stars and Devonshire Recreation Club.

“We extended an invitation to Social Club, North Village and Police to rejoin the Central Counties,” said Dennis Williams of Devonshire Recreation Club who, along with Gershon Gibbons of Western Stars, are the two club representatives tasked with organising the competition.

“We knew North Village had a Commercial League team and heard that Police and Social Club were in the Evening League, so we sent an invitation to them to play in the Central Counties.

“Police weren’t able to do it and Social Club also couldn’t get organised in time for this season, but North Village have agreed to come on board and will play in the first round against Stars.”

Stars are the defending champions after beating Devonshire Recreation Club last season in a best-of-three encounter after the competition was reduced to two teams after the withdrawal of Social Club two years ago.

The Central Counties, although the youngest of the counties, had the strongest teams at one point with the likes of Stars, Devonshire Recreation Club, Police and Nationals.

“The other teams [Social Club and Police] are looking to come in next season with a year’s notice,” Williams said. “The interest was keen but the time got away from them this year.

“North Village are on board, which is a good thing for us, because in the last couple of seasons it has just been us and Western Stars and we had to look at ways to make changes to bring some life back to the Central Counties.

“As the constitution says it is ‘for the promotion of cricket in the parishes of Pembroke and Devonshire’, so we have looked at the teams who play, regardless of level, in those parishes and hopefully it grows to bigger and better things.”

“We decided to try to expand it a bit and Village have a big following in football and they have had a cricket team in the Commercial League for a number of years and are in the Devonshire-Pembroke area, so we asked them if they would like to join us.

“They got excited about it, looking at the opportunity to play against Devonshire Rec and Western Stars.

“Hopefully this will galvanise everybody. The Central Counties teams dominated cricket at one point.”

Playing in the Central Counties could generate some interest in Police and Social Club possibly returning to the league, according to Williams.

“That’s the other agenda at play here, to encourage these teams to come back into the league, because all three of them, including Village, have played in the league before,” he said.

“This may just give them the encouragement to make that step and come back into the league.”

The winner of Saturday’s match will meet Devonshire Recreation Club in the final on July 4 at St John’s Field.