Totton & Eling, who avoided a second consecutive relegation by the skin of their teeth at the end of last season, will have Damian Shirazi skippering them in Southern Premier League cricket next summer.

It means a nostalgic return to Southern Gardens for Sharazi, who helped BAT Sports win four Premier Division titles and two twenty20 Cup successes during his previous spell there, writes Mike Vimpany.

The 32-year old left-hand opening batsman scored over 4,000 runs in his time with BAT, having started at Lymington.

Shirazi, whose subsequent playing stints with Banbury, Ealing and more recently Aston Rowatt have coincided with coaching appointments at public schools in those areas, is currently Master in charge of Cricket at Dulwich College.

But he reckons his role at the top South London school is unlikely to affect his availability for Totton next season.

“Easter is in late March 2106, so our school cricket term will start much earlier, meaning that I am available for the vast majority of the season and missing only a few games,” he explained.

So why has Shirazi chosen to return to old Totton & Eling haunts ?

“In early September I met up with the Totton & Eling chairman, Mark Mellett and was incredibly impressed by his clear vision and incredible enthusiasm for the club that I enjoyed fantastic times with previously,” he continued.

“His emphasis on developing the club’s own junior players, and gradually improving the club as a whole, was very much aligned to my own philosophy of how a club should be run.

“Having played in numerous leagues across the country, I firmly believe that the superb governance and structure found in the SPL makes it without doubt the best competition I’ve played in.

“I am excited about the challenge of working with the whole club from 1st xi down to the under-9s.

“There are still some excellent people who have remained at Totton & Eling and look forward to working alongside them in trying to achieve the club’s goals.”

Shirazi has already set himself – and Totton & Eling – goals to aim at.

“The goals for the club are to return to the ECB Premier Division as soon as possible and in doing so continue to develop and attract the best young players to the club,” he explained.

“At the forefront of this will also be an emphasis on developing a positive atmosphere at the club and providing high standards in on and off field behaviour.

“There is no doubt it will be a challenging process, but we’re confident that given some hard work and clear planning we can achieve it.”

Champions under the guise of BAT four times in six years between 2001 and 2006, Totton & Eling were relegated from the ECB Premier Division in 2014 and narrowly missed a second consecutive demotion at the end of the past season.