Richard Basden is the new man in charge of Western Counties champions Willow Cuts.

Basden succeeded Gary Dowling for the top post during the West End club?s AGM held last week.

Dowling, current president of the Western Counties Cricket Association (WCCA), is now the vice-president of Willow Cuts, Carla Basden secretary, Scheraine Basden treasurer and former Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) president Ed Bailey as honorary president.

Veteran all-rounder Reggie Tucker Jr. has replaced Dwight Basden as skipper while Bergon Spencer is the team?s vice captain.

Basden rose to local cricket stardom in 1985 when he scored successive half centuries at Wellington Oval as a teenaged Somerset colt against a star-studded St.George?s Cup Match team.

Basden, one of the most elegant batsmen in his heyday, then scored a third straight half century at Somerset Cricket Club the very next year to forever etch his name in the annals of Cup Match history.

But although Basden would go on to become one of the Island?s premier batsmen and enjoy many memorable moments in domestic cricket, he never got the opportunity to play on a winning Somerset Cup Match team.

The 39-year-old prison warden now hopes to reap further success at the administrative level.

?I?ve always been keen to take on any position or role at my club. I?m not playing cricket anymore and so I thought it was time to take my game to another level, and that level is management,? said Basden.

?We need as many senior people as possible who are no longer playing to come onboard and so my intention is to lead by example.?

One of Basden?s short term goals is to ?fine tune? a few things in and around the facility and also see the club operate along the same lines as some of the more established organisations across the Island.

?We have a strategy in place and our goal is to try and achieve as much as we can based on what?s good for our community,? he added.

?Right now we are looking at stability and also at strengthening our membership and making sure we provide a service as a community club to the people of Somerset.?

Willow Cuts have also submitted applications to acquire some of the cash injected into local cricket by Texas billionaire Allen Stanford to go in aid of upgrading the cricket pavilion at Royal Naval Field.

The club have been seeking to have a turf wicket constructed at the West End venue, site of the inaugural Cup Match in 1902.

But those plans, Basden said, have been set aside as something to strive for over the long term.

?We have had meetings with the BCB and they are now in the process of going through the proper channels in reference to the handling over of this money,? he added.

?And obviously we have other things on the agenda due to a lack of proper changing room and bathroom facilities.?

Willow Cuts, who successfully retained the use of Somerset Cricket Club as their home field after Leg Trappers and PHC both failed in a bid to move in, are also set to tour Toronto in July.

When asked is his cricket career officially over, Basden replied: ?You will definitely not see me on the pitch anymore. I have made a commitment last year to step aside and given the injury (shoulder) that I still have, I thought it was the right time to retire from the sport.?

Basden admitted, though, he will miss doing what he does best, dissecting the outfield with the blade.

?I?ll always miss playing. But you also know when the time is right to move on,? he added.

?If I continue to play then that means some youngster is going to get left behind in the wilderness.

?So it?s important we play our youngsters and we still have a bit of experience in the team.?

On a different note, however, Cuts have lost the services of last season?s skipper and Basden?s nephew Dwight Basden.

Basden, said to have become disgruntled at the club, has transferred to nearby Somerset Cricket Club.

?We are not going to hold back any player who wants to play cricket elsewhere,? said Cuts president Basden.

?And any player that leaves us is going to be a big miss.

?But hopefully his game will improve wherever he chooses to go and we also encourage him to keep striving hard in whatever he wants to achieve.

?And hopefully our loss will be somebody else?s gain, which again is okay because our focus in on our youngsters who we want to bring through as efficiently as we possibly can in the hopes they turn out to become another Richard or Dexter Basden ? or even better.?