Hampshire’s new captain Colin Roope is hoping his talents as a player are not needed this season as he steps into the mighty shoes of Martin Young, who led the county to their first English County Championship in 21 years (writes Andrew Griffin).

Young, a former English Mid-Amateur Champion who represented Great Britain and Ireland in the Over 35s twice against America in the Concession Cup, decided to step down after two years as captain to concentrate on his own game.

Roope forced his way into the Hampshire team in 2017, and once Young had decided it was time to hand the county captain’s badge on, the 37-year-old was an obvious candidate.

Young who played in eight Hampshire teams that failed to land the English crown at the county finals seven times between 2002 and 2016, put his faith in a mixture of mid-amateur players in the run-up to last year’s trip to Trevose.

Hampshire’s two British Amateur champions, Scott Gregory and Harry Ellis, were never available for selection by the county because of their international commitments and with North Hants’ Matt Wilcox winning the British Mid-Amateur title early in the season, the former Bedfordshire man made a strong four with Young, Roope and fellow Blackmoor member Mark Burgess as the backbone of the eight-man Daily Telegraph League team.

And while results did not go to plan in the four South Division matches as Hampshire sought to win the South-East League final for the first time since 2012, the experienced make-up of the team proved the missing link after Hampshire had just come up short in the English finals in 2013, 2015 and 2016.

Roope, who was previously a member at Farnham GC, is preparing to lead Hampshire in their first league game of the season against Dorset at Remedy Oak, on Sunday. He is happy to to continue with Young’s philosophy as he sets about carrying on the county’s considerable success in the traditional first fixture of the season against their neighbours.

He has drafted in Portsmouth Golf Centre’s Simon Andrews, who coaches Scott Gregory and Billy McKenzie, as the first-team coach for 2018.

Roope said: “I was nervous at first about how taking over from Martin would be.

“He has been the figurehead of Hampshire golf for so long now and he has been incredible. Absolutely brilliant in fact. He is always available for advice if I need it.

“To be fair, there is not much that needs changing. The only major change is getting Simon Andrews involved and I believe that was a good move as he has been excellent so far.

“I think Martin is enjoying just focussing on his golf and nothing else.

“He will be a massive player for me and the team this year. He has a lot of seriously good golf left in him.”