Ian Hawtin admitted he had unfinished business after being re-elected as Oxfordshire captain for a seventh season.

The 44-year-old Banbury skipper led the county to a third consecutive third-place finish in the Minor Counties Championship Western Division last season.

Oxon also reached the Minor Counties Cricket Association Trophy semi-finals from 2007-9 before failing to make it through their group last season.

And Hawtin believes that if fortune had been on their side they could easily have been Western Division champions last season.

Oxon had established a winning position against Wales MC at Pontarddulais when the last day – like the first – was washed out.

Hawtin said: “I feel we have continually improved.

“I think last year once again with a little bit of luck, particularly down in Wales, we could have been top of the table.

“In the last 12 months or 24 months we have brought through a lot of good young players who have come into the side, and I think that is a positive and good for the future.”

Hawtin points to the likes of Tom Geeson-Brown, Lloyd Sabin, Ashley Blanchard, David Smith, Luke Ryan, Nathan Hawkes, Jack Taylor and Stuart Hole as an illustration of how the younger players have been introduced.

He added: “I think it is important that the side progresses and changes over the years, and it is healthy that we are bringing in younger players.

“There are still a few older guys there, but I think it shows there is good young talent around.

“At the moment I feel very much part of the side and still feel as if I am contributing, so I am pleased to continue.

“I think Oxfordshire are now a good competitive side in Minor Counties cricket.

“If we go back eight, nine, ten years we were not. We were a bit more like whipping boys really as a county.

“We have moved forward and that is one of the targets we set when I became captain.”