ANOTHER season of cricket limps to a conclusion this Sunday (September 16) when Sandford are supposed to travel to Instow to play against North Devon in the final fixture of this season in the North Devon League.

The euphoria of the two Saturday sides avoiding relegation seems ages ago now and the summary for the Sunday cricket is not quite so positive.

It seems that the current group of cricketers are not keen on playing two fixtures over a weekend.

Despite this giving anyone an opportunity to possibly find some form with either bat or ball the availability issue has been the main talking point of the season.

In fact the Second Eleven has been relegated due to not fulfilling two fixtures in the season. Six points taken from those unfulfilled fixtures would have made the side safe but maybe this is not the direction that the Club wishes to follow.

This last weekend the team had two away matches against Barnstaple and Petrockstowe and appeals for players on social media as late as Friday evening did not augur well.

Paul Smith is to be congratulated on getting 11 players for both days and I am sure they all enjoyed their probable last game of the season.

Many father and son combinations gave the side a mixture of youth and experience but it was interesting to note that only six members who would make themselves available for Devon League cricket made themselves available for this weekend.

The scorecards show that against Barnstaple, Chris Field took two wickets and David Harris top scored with 51 as the hosts won by 50 runs.

The following day Petrockstowe won by five wickets. Only Lucas Richards and Jem Fawsett managed to score over 20 runs with Harvey Blake then picking up two wickets.

The First Eleven will finish mid table as Filleigh are already relegated but I suspect the game might not even take place if this week’s availability issues occur again.

I know there is a player’s meeting very shortly and it will be interesting to see which route the players want to take for next season.

If only one side continues in the North Devon League then this might be too high a standard for some of the younger cricketers the club is trying to give experience of adult cricket to.

Whatever, it has been an exciting summer as the Saturday sides improved in the second half of the season and one hopes that the seeds have been sown for a more positive season in 2019.

Let’s hope we all winter well and are eager to go once more next April.

Mike Canning