SANDFORD Cricket Club Thirds completed an excellent season last Saturday when they gained promotion by finishing second in G Division Central following their excellent win against Shobrooke Park Seconds on the second pitch at Creedy Park.

Having won the toss and asked Shobrooke to bat first, skipper Alex Stevens must have wondered if he’d made the right decision when Shobrooke powered their way to 91 before losing their first wicket when skipper Andy Bridgeman fell for an excellent 55 (10 fours).

Showing his team the way to bat, the rest of the early order all “got in” but without “going on”.

Alfie Poole 25 (4 fours), Chris Field 23 (2 fours, 1 six), Guy Hoskins 28 (3 fours, 2 sixes), Richard Pyle 24 (2 fours) and Kev Pitts 31 (4 fours, 2 sixes) all helped guide their team to an eventual 221 for 8 from their 40 overs.

For Sandford, spinners Ben Clement 3-27 (8) and 15 year old Tom Harding 3-54 (8), did their best to restrict the Shobrooke batters and enabled Sandford to stay in the game.

In reply, Sandford’s Third XI run machine, Elliott Butterfield celebrating his 18th birthday, did his best to get the response off to a good start, and his first wicket stand of a 100 with skipper Alex Stevens 39 (27 balls, 44 fours, 2 sixes) certainly helped to set the tempo for the innings.

However, when Elliott departed for 77 (67 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes), with the score on 134 for four, it then required a monumental effort from the rest of the Sandford order to get over the line.

Enter Will Street, who played his “innings of the season” with 51 no (8 fours, 1 six). He guided the lower order to 226 for 6 in 34.3 overs to achieve a 4 wicket victory.

Credit must also go to young Tom Harding 8no (1 four), who completed his best match for the club so far, for sticking with Will, and in doing so sharing an unbroken 7th wicket partnership of 57.

For Shobrooke Jamie Delling 3-37 (8) and “the old warhorse” Pete Turner 2-28 (8) did their best to restrict the Sandford batters, but the 19 points gained, ensured Sandford finished in second place in G Division Central, one point behind champions North Molton, but with a better playing record than the other teams finishing second in G Division East and West.

As such, the Thirds gain promotion next season to the F Division, which is a great achievement considering the young age of most of the players, as well as the number of players used in this team this season.

Well done to Alex for his leadership this year, and keeping a great spirit within the team.

He has been ably assisted at times by Jason Matten, but a lot of credit must also go to Glyn Baker who has led the bowling attack most weeks by claiming early order wickets to make the Thirds task easier.

Well played everyone and the F Division will test the Thirds even further next season.

Phil Matten