TOBY Mowat is relishing the prospect of seeing Barrow’s two new Antipodean overseas players in action when the Northern League season gets under way tomorrow.

The Ernest Pass Memorial Ground club have recruited top-order batsman Jamie Pinfold, from Horowhenua Kapiti, New Zealand, and all-rounder Aaron Keverne Onyon, who plays in Western Australia’s top grade competition for Perth side Gosnells.

Pinfold, 20, has been his club’s top run-scorer for the past two years, while 29-year-old Keverne Onyon – who is originally from Lincoln, and has represented Lincolnshire in Minor Counties cricket – has attracted interest from Big Bash sides Perth Scorchers and Adelaide Strikers ahead of next year’s edition of the Australian domestic Twenty20 tournament.

“Jamie is quite an aggressive batsman, by all accounts, so that should be good to have him at the top of the order,” said Barrow captain Mowat, whose side open their Division One campaign at Morecambe (1pm start).

“Aaron comes from playing a very good standard in Australia and he’s got some Big Bash trials for next year. He’s a genuine all-rounder who opens the bowling and bats at five, so it’s quite exciting.

“We’ve met them in the last few days, they’re both really nice guys and I think we need a bit of that around the club.”

The duo have come in following the departures of Cumberland batsman Sam Dutton and Michael Wellings, with the former making the move to rivals Furness in the North Lancashire and Cumbria League.

However, Glen Kermode has returned to Barrow after a period living in Leeds, and Mowat is confident the squad are in good shape to mount a challenge for the title in 2017.

“It’s just one of those things and you can only prepare with the team you’ve got,” said Mowat. “We’ve got a couple of players who have come back, which is always good, so I think we’ll be competing again this year.

“There are a few players who could easily come up from the second team and it just depends if a few of the footballers come back and play. They can’t really commit until the season has started, so it is a bit of a lottery at this time of the year.”

Barrow’s preparations have not been helped by having to spend much of their pre-season training indoors and having their traditional friendly against Furness called off due to wet weather, but Mowat is in confident mood heading into the new season.

The batsman expects Morecambe to provide a stiff challenge in their opening fixture though, with the hosts having recruited Sri Lankan all-rounder Ashan Priyanjan, who has played 23 one-day internationals for his country, as their professional for this year.

“It’s always a tough game against Morecambe,” said Mowat. “Last year when we played them, we got 280-odd against them and they got 200-plus in return.

“They’re a good team and you never know. It changes from year to year with this league as to which teams are up there and which ones aren’t, so it’s exciting.

“We’re very much looking forward to it and I think everyone is just looking forward to getting outside.”

It could be a landmark year for Barrow’s evergreen seamer and former skipper Daryl Wearing, who needs 34 more wickets to bring up a career Northern League total of 500.

Meanwhile, the Barrow second string begin their Division Two campaign at home to Morecambe A tomorrow, with a 1pm start at Ernest Pass.