Rupert Evans has resisted the temptation to hand over the captaincy and will lead Oxford again in the Home Counties Premier League this year.

The former Oxfordshire skipper, who will be 50 when the campaign gets under way, hinted at the end of last season that he may have played his final game in the top flight as captain.

But after giving it plenty of thought - and having received lots of encouragement from his teammates - the veteran off-spinner (pictured below) has decided to remain at the helm.

Evans said: "I just felt that it would be nice if I carried on with a view to grooming someone else to do it.

"I thou- ght about it over Christmas, and it became a bit of a joke in the end as the lads said if I was on the sidelines I would actually moan more than if I was on the pitch. So they said you might as well do it.

Oxford finished sixth in their first season in Division 1 last year after flirting with relegation, and Evans admitted a desire to see the team improve on that effort had also influenced his decision.

"We just felt that we didn't do ourselves justice last year," he said. "The game is a bit longer and the opposition is better than we played in the previous two years, but we would hope to do well this year.

"The ideal scenario would be for us to play well and for me to play a minor role

"I started last season playing a minor role, but circumstances were such that with us losing our seamers through injury, I ended up bowling quite a lot of overs.

Oxford have begun pre-season training at Cheney School, with indoor nets starting at Oxford Brookes University on March 7 (6-8pm) for six consecutive Sundays.

Meanwhile, Ross Buchanan will captain Oxford's 2nd XI in Division 2 of The Oxford Times Cherwell League, with Ian Pickford skippering the 3rd XI in Division 7.

Richard Summers will take charge of the 4th XI in Division 9.