DE de – gap - de de de de de – OK it’s not easy to put a musical tune into a newspaper but those seven de’s are the opening to “The Great Escape” (I bet you’re all trying it now!)

Are Sandford Cricket teams going to avoid the drop after apparently seeing the mountain too steep to climb?

Well if they all continue to believe and if everyone is prepared to make themselves available for the next four weeks then stranger things have happened.

Players are stepping up to the mark and results have turned. With so many other teams in the league beating each other then it is possible to start to dream of safety whereas a couple of weeks ago it only looked like doom and gloom.

On Saturday (August 4) the First Eleven beat their closest rivals Hatherleigh by 45 runs. Winning the toss and batting Faisal Iqbal completed his maiden Saturday century and finished unbeaten on 102.

He shared in stands of 91 with Neil Bettiss (42) and 105 with Adrian Small (57) as Sandford got the necessary competitive score of 264 for four.

Adrian is chipping in with some very useful contributions this season showing the value of his experience in what is overall a youthful side.

Jamie Palmer then took two early wickets and a run out left the visitors on 46 for 3. Enter captain Richard Foan, who then ran through the rest of the team taking five for 38 and leading his side to back-to-back victories.

This coming weekend they are away to North Devon and a victory there will go a long way to helping maintain their Premier League status.

Things could have been even better if another team near the bottom hadn’t beaten the league leaders (what happened there Smudger?!)

The Second Eleven, joined by their hosts North Devon in a minute’s silence before the game to remember James Uren who had passed away the previous weekend and to show support for Dan who was playing in the game.

Surprisingly North Devon won the toss and asked Sandford to bat. After a controversial first ball there were contributions by Chris Blake (27), Tom Williams (23) but the stand out performance was by skipper Shaun Hawkins who scored 109.

The total of 232 for seven was competitive but often not enough at Instow but no-one really got going for North Devon as they were bowled out for 134.

Tom Williams and Shaun Hawkins both took three wickets and there were two apiece for Brian Leach and Simon Saunders.

This result should have taken the side out of the drop zone but, just like the First Eleven, one of the teams closest to them defeated the league leaders.

This should give the side confidence to know that all games up to the end of the season are able to be won if the desire and application that has been shown over the past two weeks can be carried on until the end of the season.

Fixtures at Creedy Park this weekend:

Saturday, August 11 Second Eleven v Countess Wear, 1.30pm start.

Sunday, August 12 First Eleven v Filleigh, 1.30pm start.

Mike Canning