THE weekend before last was a bad one for Sandford Cricket Club, with all four teams losing. This week I'm pleased to report a complete reversal of fortunes with the Firsts, Seconds and Thirds all winning, and the Fourths not able to complete a Grand Slam as they didn't have a game.

The Firsts had an important bottom-of-the-table match at Sidmouth, and things didn't look great for quite a while, as Sidmouth were asked to bat first by skipper Adam Small.

The Sidmouth openers George Sims 31 (two fours and a six) and Dan Powell 50 (seven fours) added 72 runs for the opening partnership, and soon it was 104 for one as Charlie Gaywood joined Powell.

However, Powell's departure at 104 saw a sudden collapse to 128 for six, including Gaywood for 24 (two fours), as the Sandford spinners took a grip on the game.

It was left to Sidmouth skipper Taylor Ingham-Hill and veteran all-rounder Will Murray to then shift the momentum back in Sidmouth's favour. Together they put on an unbroken Seventh wicket partnership of 95, with Ingham-Hill finishing undefeated on 64no (seven fours), and Murray undefeated on 28no (two fours), as they guided the Sidmouth innings to a close on 223 for six after their 50 overs.

For Sandford, overseas star Tanbir Hayder finally took a few wickets with 3-29 (10), and along with Praison Alias 2-27 (10), this enabled Sandford to at least have a not too unreasonable total to try and hunt down.

Sandford's response did not get off to the best of starts, and they soon found themselves in trouble at 54 for four in only the 15th over. At this point Harrison Jones joined Harry Southgate in a fifth wicket partnership worth 97 runs, before Harrison departed for an excellent 55 (eight fours and a six).

Harry continued on his merry way, before eventually falling for 74 (10 fours), with only 28 runs required for victory. His best and most important knock so far for the Kingfishers.

Enter Archie Osborne, (promoted from the Seconds following an excellent run of scores for them) to guide his team home with an important 23no (three fours), along with Praison Alias 5no as they reached their goal of 224 for seven wickets down after 48.5 overs. An important 'bounce-back' win following last week's disappointing loss.

For Sidmouth, opening bowler Matthew Fourie caused a lot of problems early on as he finished with 4-36 (10), and Charlie Gaywood 2-20 (2) created a bit of disturbance towards the end of the innings with a couple of late wickets.

Next week the Firsts are at home to another team in the bottom half of the table, Tavistock, with a 12.30pm start.

Phil Matten