Former Bathurst cricketer Max Hope hands over Sydney University second grade captaincy role

Hope has handed up the leadership reins to Henry Clark for the upcoming 2021-22 campaign, which is set to potentially start at the later-than-usual time of November depending on the state of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Former Rugby Union Cricket Club talent Hope was disappointed by his latest campaign, where he came up short of a half century and had several dry spells with the ball, so he's hoping that a change in leadership can get him up to the level he's set for himself.

"I indicated that I wasn't going to be the best fit going forward. I felt like I grew into it over the last two seasons and got better tactically but it was the off-field stuff that led me to thinking I wouldn't do it again this year, with things like meetings and the such," he said.

"The other thing is that since I got back from England a couple of years ago when I had that stint over there I haven't developed my skills as much as I would have liked.

"I think if I remove the captaincy from everything it will allow me more time and possibly more mental freedom that I didn't realise was taking up capacity to get myself a bit better."

It's been a rough ride for Sydney Uni second grade over the past few years.

Since reaching the 2018-19 finals, where they were knocked out first week by Hawkesbury, they haven't managed to make their way back to the finals over their past two seasons.

Trying to turn things around is naturally made all the tougher due to the current Sydney lockdown situation.

Hope and his teammates have been doing what they can within the limits of the public health order to stay on top of their game and keep connected.

"We obviously can't exercise with more than one other person, and the other thing is finding someone that lives within five kilometres of you. Luckily, a fair few of us live close enough together so we've been able to get out a little bit," he said.

"The indication of the season's start time is late October to early November, and that's in the best scenario. The season's long enough as it is so I don't want to be getting myself into form at training way before the season starts.

"If I had a set time that we'd be starting I feel I'll be able to switch on and prepare myself from there."

Hope's best Sydney Premier Cricket second grade performances are his 185 with the bat in 2014-15 and his 5-15 with the ball, which he found during the following season in 2015-16.

Since his return from England in the 2018-19 season Hope's been slowly lifting his statistics up year-to-year, although he'll be chasing further improvement in the season to come.

His batting average has gone from 23.5 to 27.3 and his bowling average has been a big improvement from 38.3 to 26.1 as his overs have increased.

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