SIMON Ridley is relishing a new challenge after deciding to sever ties with Bournemouth to join Southern Premier League rivals Bashley.

Ridley, who had spent 14 years with Bournemouth, has reunited with his former Hampshire Academy team-mate Richard Morris, Bashley’s new captain.

The 24-year-old helped Bournemouth win the Southern Premier League in 2010 and was a key figure in the Lions’ memorable Twenty/20 Cockspur Cup triumph in 2009.

All-rounder Ridley told the Daily Echo: “I was in contact with Richard over the winter and he really impressed me with what he had to say and what the club’s ambitions were.

“This is going to be a really refreshing change for me. It is a new chapter in my cricket career and I am really looking forward to playing with players like Richard, Jake Lilley, Sean Terry and Ryan Higgins, a Middlesex Academy player who will join us for the second half of the season.”

Ridley, a teacher at Ballard School in New Milton, added: “It is a lovely club and Richard sold it to me. It seemed like the right time and I just felt this was the time for me to move on from Bournemouth.

“Not everyone at the club knows me and I have got to go in and show what I have got to offer, both on and off the pitch.”

Bashley were expected to be one of Bournemouth’s main rivals for the title last season, although both clubs experienced indifferent campaigns and the silverware went to Havant.

Ridley, whose family has a long association with Bournemouth, had been hoping to captain the club’s first team this season after standing for election over the winter.

However, following a vote among the players, he was overlooked in favour of Scott Barlow, a team-mate of Ridley’s when Bournemouth won the SPL two years ago.

Ridley said he had been “disappointed” not to get the captaincy but added that he had been “more disappointed” with certain other decisions made at the club, although politely declined to elaborate further.

Bashley host neighbours Lymington in a friendly tomorrow (1.30pm).