CONGRATULATIONS TO Sandford First Eleven who are crowned champions of the Devon League A Division with one game still to play.

Having won promotion the previous week, Sandford made light work of defeating Ivybridge. The visitors were obviously in no mood to watch the Sandford batsmen knock the ball around the Park all afternoon and therefore, on winning the toss, elected to bat!

Apart from three batsmen who achieved double figures there wasn’t much else on offer as Ivybridge crawled to 128 all out in 44 overs.

Jamie Palmer (three for 14) showed a welcome return to form after a recent injury and there were two wickets apiece for Ryan Glass, Ben Clement and Pete Steer who continues to shine with the ball.

Ryan followed this up by scoring 46 not out as Sandford cruised home with more than 22 overs to spare.

Star of the season has to be skipper Richard Foan, who set out at the beginning of the season with the sole aim of getting Sandford back into the Premier Division.

The Club has the best facilities in Mid Devon and it is only right that the top grade of cricket is on display here.

Richard has led from the front. His 29 runs against Ivybridge means that he passed the 1,000 league runs which is an incredible achievement.

Not only has he scored the runs but he has scored six scores of over 50, four scores of over 100, has an average of over 68 and a strike rate of almost 106!

He has also occasionally turned to bowl himself and has taken 16 wickets and held eight catches. Richard himself would acknowledge that the rest of the squad have raised their game to achieve this success.

Although 28 players have been used, the strength of the side has been built around a strong nucleus of eight or nine players who have shown consistent availability.

The incredible turn around in the season has seen Sandford undefeated since the mid-point and they should finish off with a win this Saturday (September 2) against Plymstock who are bottom of the league.

SECOND ELEVEN

The Second Eleven had an excellent win against Barton who are another side battling for the runners-up spot.

Barton won the toss, elected to field and then produced a woeful bowling display that saw them concede 50 extras.

This helped Sandford reach a total of 178 with Ashley Baker (32), Jason Matten (31) and Greg Lewis (21) being the main contributors.

A disciplined bowling display then saw three wickets for Shaun Hawkins and Jem Fawsett and two for Harvey Blake.

Shaun Hawkins is to be congratulated in how he led the troops for the day in the absence of regular captain Rory Miller.

The Second Eleven have secured the area second place they needed to be sure of playing in a higher league next season but win on Saturday and runners-up spot is guaranteed.

This Saturday (September 2) sees them take on Plymstock who are third in the league and will desperately want to finish off the season as runners-up themselves so a good game should be on the cards.

Why not make that visit to Creedy Park to watch the final Devon League fixture of the season and sample the facilities on offer.

Mike Canning