"He comes from out Leeton and he's moved over here with his family. I think he lives out Forster way,'' captain Michael Rees said.

"We'd heard about him from a few people we know and he's agreed to have a run with us.''

MacGregor played A-grade in the Leeton and District competition last season.

He had his first run with Wingham in a trial game against West Maitland last weekend and impressed with the bat and ball. MacGregor is a top order batsman and opening bowler.

"Rhett scored 20 odd runs and took a couple of wickets,'' Rees said.

"He'll be handy for us.''

Otherwise Rees expects Wingham to field much the same side as in 2018/19, although he's hoping for a better finish. Wingham dominated the pre-Christmas section of the premier league and also won the T20 final.

However, they feel away towards the end of the summer and dropped out of contention for the minor premiership before eventually losing to Wauchope in the grand final qualifier.

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"That was disappointing,'' Rees said.

"But hopefully we've learnt from that.''

Rees said that Wingham were too reliant on one or two batsmen to get the runs last year and that will need to be addressed this campaign.

The club has a production line of promising juniors. Rees said players including Blake Thompson and Hudson Bird should press for a permanent spot in the premier league after having a few games last season. Thompson impressed with the bat in the trial. He said Josh McTaggart should also gain from the experience he had in the top grade in 2018/19.

Top batsman Ben Cole also had a lean campaign by his standards, but Rees is confident he'll bounce back to his best this season.

There are eight sides in the premier league, one down on last season, so there'll be no bye and Rees said this is a good thing.

"We'll be getting consistent cricket,'' he explained.

The new season will start on Saturday October 12.