BEECHWOOD Derbyshire Premier League champions Spondon are coming to terms with the surprise departure this week of opening bowler Steve Attenborough.

Captain Sam Kellogg admits he was astonished when Attenborough ended a team meeting with the news that he felt he had achieved all he could with Spondon after last year's title heroics.

But Attenborough's move has opened the door for his opening partner from last season, Paul Cook, to stake a claim for a regular place again.

It is Cook – initially told his first-team opportunities would be limited this season – who will partner former Derbyshire bowler Neil Gunter when the champions visit Dunstall tomorrow.

It is a big game for both sides, who recently had a terrific battle in the Premier Cup, nicked by one wicket at the death by Spondon.

Dunstall have lost only once but also won only once and are feeling they may just be starting to discover the form they are capable of.

Spondon, meanwhile, after a solid but unspectacular start to the season, will feel they have to win to keep pace with early leaders Ockbrook & Borrowash.

“We were astonished at Steve Attenborough's departure but it will only open the door for someone else,” said Kellogg.

“Steve said he didn't feel we were likely to win anything else from here on but we've hardly had a disastrous start to the season and no-one else feels like that.

“I don't understand it but we will move on.

“Paul Cook is back in the firsts and is bowling as well as he has ever done, while Neil Gunter is fully fit now and bowled really well last week. I think we have a good opening attack with those two.

“On the whole, we are slightly disappointed with our start – but it was always going to be hard to emulate last season and we knew that.”

Spondon are fourth and a 27-point gap to the top of the division is hardly insurmountable with less than half the season played, so Kellogg's optimism is understandable.

“We'll still be up there at the end of the season, I'm sure of that” he said.

“The bowling and fielding has been as good as ever so far.

“We know the batting hasn't been as good as it can be but, if you look around the league, you don't see too many other teams piling up the runs yet, either.

“We think the runs will come because people aren't presuming that they will – they're out in the nets working hard to try to make it happen.”

Spondon will face a Dunstall side who captain Martin Clewley feels are just starting to show their potential.

“Early season was a bit frustrating for us, with a number of injuries getting in the way,” said Clewley (pictured below, left).

“But the confidence has been rising week by week and, even when we lost to Sandiacre recently, we were not too down about it, because we knew we had played some of our best cricket of the season and it's no disgrace to lose to them.

“We feel that we are starting to find some rhythm and it bodes well for the future.”

Dunstall have a potentially powerful opening bowling attack in experienced South African Lucien Simpson and the aggressive Craig Jennings but both have had injuries – Simpson missing two matches with a split finger soon after he arrived.

As with many overseas bowlers, he is also waiting keenly for the wickets to get a bit harder.

“I think they'll both get better as the wickets get harder and they start to understand each other's bowling,” said Clewley.

“We also have good balance and depth in the side and it's good that we have been taking draws from games – we've tried to become a more difficult side to beat this season.

“We had a really good game against Spondon in the cup, which could have gone either way.

“The sides were really evenly-matched that day, so we're looking forward to this one.”