Elland have snapped uptalented teenage Australian batsman Daniel Arms for the Drakes League season – and brought back Richard Blakey as coach.

The Hullen Edge club hope former Yorkshire and England wicketkeeper Blakey will bring his experience to bear as they embark on a new era geared towards bringing through young players and creating stability for 2014 and onwards.

While Elland have lost Paul Winrow, Niall Lockley and Chris Goulden, joining 19-year-old Arms for the Premiership campaign will be Fahid Rehman – a batsman and spin bowler who has impressed in both the Ribblesdale and Bradford League – and Wasim Qasim from Manningham Mills, who will open the bowling.

Also back to captain the second XI will be Michael Midwood, who has played for a number of years at Warley in the Halifax League.

“We are making a determined focus on bringing in young players who we hope will stay and give us stability and loyalty over the upcoming years,” said chairman Mark Ward, who is delighted to have retained Jack Hendy.

“Greg Finn is taking over as captain and we feel there will be a really good and positive environment at the club this season with Richard Blakey providing expert guidance and inspiration.

“As first-team coach, Richard will run the net sessions – with a really intensive 90-minute session each Thursday – and hopefully he will get the best out of our young lads in addition to being their mentor on match days.

“With his experience, ethos and work ethic, we feel it will help drive our recruitment and we are not going to be looking to bring in ‘big name’ players each season, we are looking to build some consistency and stability which can stand us in good stead for five, six and even more seasons ahead.

“We hope to generate some loyalty from the players who are coming in and, in turn, that will give us consistency – so we will continue to look for and encourage young players with a bit of ambition who want to work with someone like Richard and improve as cricketers at Elland.”

Highly-rated left-hand batsman Arms played in Huddersfield last summer for the Newcastle Junior Cavaliers, as part of a four-week tour.

He impressed with 627 runs at an average of 57, including scores of 104 not out, 90, 83 not out, 70, 68 and 63. Arms and been involved with Cricket New South Wales at Under 17 and Under 19 level.

He has also represented Newcastle District through the age groups and also New South Wales Country Under 17s and 19s. Arms currently plays alongside Sussex and England Under 19 star Callum Jackson for Charlestown in the Newcastle and District Competition.

“Daniel fits exactly into our thinking, being a talented young player who is already a First Grade cricketer in Australia,” added Ward, who has promoted youngsters Ben Spink and Chris Walker from the second XI squad to the Firsts.

“Daniel is a protege of Steve Mace, who was well-known and respected in his time with Slaithwaite, and we know exactly what we are getting with Daniel because we’ve already seen him in action at Elland with the touring side last year.”

Rehman is a former Bradford League Young Player of the Year and finished third in the batting averages when he was with Saltaire. He also became the youngest-ever player to score 1,000 runs in the Bradford League when he was just 19.

The 24-year-old Qasim, meanwhile, is a former teammate of Rehman’s at Saltaire and took 32 wickets for Manningham Mills last season, while not bowling as many overs as he would have liked.

In 2009, at the age of 20, he played in the Lancashire County League for Thornham and claimed 67 wickets.

The next two seasons he played for Droylsden in the Saddleworth League, taking 54 and 57 wickets respectively.

Elland will continue to run a Third XI in the Halifax Sunday League.