Wimbledon Cricket Club’s new director of cricket is looking for a more rounded season of success at Church Road.

Matt Spriegel, the former Surrey CCC spinner, took up the role in January when he thought his life in cricket was at an end.

The 28-year-old had been released by Northants and was considering a future away from the sport when the Wimbledon job became available.

Last season Wimbledon relinquished the Surrey Championship Premier Division title to Reigate Priory, as well as failing to defend their national T20 crown.

But Spriegel firmly believes those titles can be reclaimed, but he wants it achieved in parallel to bringing fresh faces through the ranks.

He said: “Wimbledon has a reputation, rightly or wrongly, of not producing players for Surrey, and not having that many come through the junior system to play for the club.

“A lot of people move into the area from outside the area, and Wimbledon is a very enticing place to play your cricket.

Surrey Comet:

Surrey man: Matt Spriegel spent five years with Surrey CCC

“So it’s not Wimbledon’s fault that a lot of people are banging on the door to come and play.

“However, sometimes that stands in the way of potential young players coming through.”

He added: “But hopefully, and I think this is one of the reasons this job came about, we can start to produce young Wimbledon players to play for Wimbledon, but also represent Surrey as well.

“We want to win the Premier Division of course, but we don’t want that at the detriment of young guys coming through. I think both can be done side by side.”

Spriegel had to come through a lengthy interview process at Wimbledon, and having been kicked where it hurts by cricket, he was not sure it was the right move.

However, by the time he was offered the role, he knew it was he was in the right place.

He said: “When I was released by Northants it was a bit of a surprise and I thought do I want to play for anybody for the sake of another couple of years, do I even want to stay in cricket?

“I looked into a variety of choices from sales to advertising to all sorts.

“At the time I was keen to do something away from cricket, because I felt I had been chewed up and spat out by the sport.

He added: “But I was very impressed by the professionalism at Wimbledon, ans I can see no reason why we should not be challenging for the title.

“But we have a tough start against Reigate Priory and Sunbury, so we need to hit the ground running.”

Spreigel will have to wait a few weeks before he can turn his arm over as he recovers from a back injury.

Meanwhile, Will Leith has been thrown the captain’s armband, Jack Snape will not be available this season and Neil Turk’s time in the middle will be cut short by increased work commitments.