AS a correspondent it is easy to write a weekly article when your club’s teams are winning, the batsmen are scoring runs and the bowlers are taking wickets.

It is not so easy when things are not going well and it looks as though the season could end with disappointment.

However when speaking to the many loyal supporters who attend the cricket matches at Creedy Park there is no such feeling.

If both teams this year are competing in a league which is one too high then so be it as in all forms of sport it is better to compete at the level which is appropriate to the standards you are able to achieve.

Being a loyal Reading football supporter I should know this when my team flirted briefly with the Premier League only to be dispatched to the Championship very quickly. The difference? Money! That is not the philosophy of Sandford Cricket Club and long may that stay.

As the season reaches the half-way stage the First Eleven are bottom of the league and are 20 points away from safety but as I have been reporting all season there is often a very small margin of defeat which could bring such a different outcome if corrected.

Against Exmouth this proved to be five runs as the First Eleven failed in chasing down 255.

There had been three wickets for Ryan Glass and two each for Faisal Iqbal and Pete Steer and then Neil Bettiss led the run chase with a magnificent 92 before being ninth man out.

Ryan scored 39 and Matt Theedom 32 but no-one else was able to make a contribution.

Last week, against Plymouth, the wheels came off once again as availability issues meant the First Eleven travelled with a weaker bowling attack and were soundly beaten by nine wickets.

Adrian Small top scored with 78 and Faisal Iqbal scored 34 but once again none of the other batters were able to add a significant contribution as Sandford managed only 210 in their 50 overs.

Less than 30 overs later, and with only one wicket, the game was lost.

The Second Eleven have also been soundly beaten in the past two weeks against sides who have First Eleven players in the Premier League and have had the option to rest some of their players and give them a run out in the Second Eleven to try to get back in to form.

Sandford duly obliged by helping these players produce match winning performances.

Against Exmouth the bowlers were dispatched to all parts of Creedy Park as Exmouth rattled up 306 for seven and then bowled the Second Eleven out for 106.

The strength of the Exmouth side was such that I am sure they would have given our First Eleven a good game.

There were two wickets for Freddie Filor and Simon Saunders and then Freddie top scored with 45 as the rest struggled to get into double figures.

Things didn’t improve against Tiverton Heathcoat as they managed to total 252 and then bowl Sandford out for 128.

Greg Lewis and Simon Saunders took two wickets each with Tom Williams top scoring with 25 and Simon Saunders 24.

The innings started badly when, with the first delivery of the innings, captain Shaun Hawkins was bowled by the quickest delivery I have seen in a Second Eleven game which Shaun admitted he didn’t even see!

Matches at Creedy Park this weekend:

Saturday, June 30: First Eleven v Tiverton Heathcoat - 12.30pm start.

Sunday, July 1: Second Eleven v Bideford - 1.30pm start.

Mike Canning