Jared Wilson excited by the challenge of proving himself in the NCU Premier League with Cliftonville Academy

​The North West Warriors all-rounder scored 708 runs and collected 37 wickets for Newbuildings last season, leading the Duncastle Road outfit to North West Senior League success for the first time and helped them reach the Senior Cup final.

He was also named North West Cricket Union Players’ Player of the Year for 2022 and is now looking to test his skills against the best that NCU cricket has to offer.

Wilson is combining his role on the pitch with being the club’s Director of Cricket, where he is developing the next generation of Cliftonville stars.

"It (the move) definitely took quite a bit of thinking,” he said. “The first thought was probably making sure I could still represent the Warriors.

"This will be my second year in the Inter-Pro system and I have just broken in so I can't be making any demands or moves - I still have to work hard for my spot.

"I spoke to Boyd (Rankin, head coach) and he said everything should be okay and then I had to speak to the family.

"I'm still young so I like to make quick decisions but this one I had to take a step back and think about it and then made the decision to move."

The standard of local club cricket has continued to improve on a yearly basis and getting involved with that was an opportunity Wilson couldn’t turn down.

"That was probably the main reason why I wanted to go to the NCU,” he added. “It's obviously a really high standard of league - not to say that the North West isn't.

"If you're bowling at Bready in the Senior Cup semi-final the mental aspects of those games will challenge anybody, but in terms of general standard the NCU is probably a touch better.

"The start to my NCU season hasn't been too great but I know if I carry on with the process and keep working hard I can prove myself in the league."

Cliftonville Academy are captained this season by Max Burton, an exciting, hard-hitting prospect that has been selected by the Northern Knights in their Inter-Provincial Series squad.

He scored a half-century in defeat to Waringstown and is leading a new look team with Wilson, Varun Chopra, Francis Collins and overseas professional Abhishek Raut all joining for the new campaign.

"Max is a really exciting young player and a very good leader as well,” said Wilson. “He leads from the front which is nice.

"He's opening the batting, scored 50 in the first game, 33 in the second so he's leading by example."

They have two chances to pick up their first Premier League victory of the season with a double-header against Woodvale (Saturday) and Lisburn (Sunday).

"Now that we know where we've went wrong we can build on the gameplan and focus on it this weekend,” added Wilson. “If we do then hopefully we can get a first win.

"Winning breeds confidence and you can beat any team if you have confidence so hopefully we can get a win and take that forward."