Spalding Town skipper Rob Ambrose believes his side’s quick-fire return to the Lincolnshire Premier League will help to keep the club progressing.
Ambrose’s charges secured a return – subject to England Cricket Broad approval – to the top flight of county club cricket at the first attempt on Saturday.
They were crowned South Lincs and Border League Premier Division champions after nearest rivals Sleaford 2nds saw their match washed out.
It left Town with an unassailable 21-point lead at the top – despite Sleaford having one more match this weekend – and crowned a terrific season for the St Thomas’ Road club.
The second team have already secured promotion from Division Two and will take the league title if Freiston fail to win their final game of the season against Moulton Harrox on Saturday.
The reintroduced Sunday side have also gained promotion from Division Six of the Rutland League while the ladies’ team finished as runners-up in the Lincolnshire Women’s League after losing Sunday’s title decider to Market Rasen.
And Ambrose is hoping his side’s Premier League return will cement the foundations for a bright future.
He said: “The ECB will be coming next week to check everything over, but it all should be in place as we tick all the boxes.
“It was more of a club decision if we wanted to take promotion. We had a committee meeting last Thursday and, if we get the opportunity, then we’ll take it.
“We’ve got to keep the club moving forward and that means playing at the highest level possible.”
Spalding led from the front for the majority of the South Lincs campaign, losing only two matches during the 20-game season.
However, Town saw five matches cancelled due to the weather which left them facing an anxious wait as Sleaford could still have overtaken them if their match at the weekend hadn’t been washed out.
Ambrose added: “I felt we were the best side in the league and deserved to win it.
“It’s a shame how it happened, but it’s swings and roundabouts with cricket and the weather.
“It was nice that the weather worked in our favour on Saturday though, but it was a strange way to win it.
“You usually win it with the team on a Saturday so you can have a bit of a celebration after rather than sitting around waiting to hear if a game had been called off or not.
“I do believe though that everyone should be finishing on the same weekend at the end of the season.
“I know there’s an odd number of teams in the division this season, but we still finished two weeks before everyone else.”
Town’s title charge owed much to the brilliance of Pakistani star Hafiz Majeed who, ahead of this weekend’s final flurry of games, was top of both the league’s batting and bowling averages.
Majeed smashed a club record score of 158 against Long Sutton while also returning a brace of five-wicket bowling hauls.
Ambrose continued: “We were very lucky to stumble across him. He wasn’t enjoying playing where he was in London so we persuaded him to come.
“He’s been very good. He’s a lovely fella who will be back playing for us again next year.
“We now need to be looking at bringing two or three decent players in who will improve us all round.
“The problem is we’re too good for the league we’re in, but not quite good enough for the league above.
“It’s a massive step from one to the other and it’s up to us now to bridge that gap by bringing a bit more quality in to enable us to compete in a higher league.
“But it’s not always that easy. There are so few players around who are able to commit every week to play this level of cricket.
“It’s not always straightforward and sometimes it can be better to work hard and improve on what you’ve already got.
“You have to work hard for your points and sometimes you have to play a negative way to get whatever is available.”
