The future is bright at Sandwich Town.

That’s the verdict of captain Jan Gray after the 24-year-old was one of the elder statesman in the side for their weekend Kent League Premier Division 27-run victory at fourth-placed St Lawrence & Highland Court.

Sandwich recovered well from 80-7 to ease lingering relegation fears.

Gray reflected: “That was a really lovely game to play in.

“Firstly, we get on well with the St Lawrence lads. It was a good-natured, but competitive, game.

“We had a very young side. I’m 24 now and found myself the fifth oldest in the team! They’re the future of the first team.

“Shahmeer Malik batted well at No.8 and got 40, and looked every bit a Premier Division batsman.”

Malik put on a crucial 91-run stand with Gray, who himself finished unbeaten on 57 in their 50-over total of 195-9.

“There was a chat around the boundary [at 80-7] about how many points we needed to stay up if we didn’t get any bonus points,” Gray revealed he was told after his knock. “I don’t blame them, to be honest!

“I’d got a couple of fifties before - but not for a number of years. Firstly, I’m not a very skilled batsmen but, in our club, we have a lot of batsmen.

“Often, we have an overflow of specialist batsmen at No.8 or No.9.

“Even though No.9, No.10 and No.11 are capable, we haven’t been able to pull it out when it’s needed, so it was nice to do it on Saturday.”

It was tough for the hosts, too, as they slipped to 42-6. Although they recovered, opening bowler Harry Bee’s 5-25 ensured St Lawrence were all out for 168.

Gray joked: “Harry took the first five wickets. We told him he’d bottled all 10!

“Even though they were 42-6, they had batsmen down the order that could get them there.

“But Harry finished with really good figures which, I think, were justified by his bowling.”

Three run-outs during the St Lawrence & Highland Court innings proved to be pivotal.

“I think that’s part of having a young side,” suggested Gray.

“There’s lots of people that can run around and throw themselves around. It was a very good fielding performance.

“I don’t think we dropped a catch and three run-outs was exceptional.”

But there was to be no double weekend delight for Sandwich. The next day, they suffered a last-ball loss to Walton-On-Thames by two wickets in their Conference Cup for the Bertie Joel Trophy Semi-Final.

A maiden first-team half-century by Cody Nieuwoudt (54) and Zack Fagg’s 50, supported by late blasts from Alex Smith (43 off 21 balls) and Ryan Davies (38 not out off 21 balls), got them to 275-7.

But Walton edged to victory despite Alex Smith’s 3-44.

Upbeat Gray said: “I think we had a really good weekend.

“Even though we lost on Sunday, I felt - for the first time in a long time - we have played two really good games on lovely sunny days. A lot of people watched at St Lawrence and Walton-On-Thames.

“It almost felt like a festival and that was really nice. I think they got it down to one run needed off three or four balls.

“But if we had tied, we would have won on competition rules due to wickets lost.”

As the season heads towards its climax, Sandwich, now fifth and 24 points clear of the bottom two, host basement boys Blackheath this Saturday.

Victory would ensure they can avoid any unwanted last-day drama.