Sandwich Town’s squad depth has been praised by club captain Jan Gray after they progressed to the Semi-Final stages of a cup competition.

Town beat hosts Wimbledon by five wickets last Sunday in The Conference Cup for The Bertie Joel Trophy, a day after heavy rain saw their Kent League Premier Division trip to face second-placed Lordswood abandoned.

Chasing 218 for victory, Benji Niewoudt - who scored 89 for the 2nds before the elements intervened - hit an unbeaten 18, along with Tom Burnap (29 not out).

Gray said: “When we have full availability, our first and second teams, especially the batting, is very strong.

“Realistically in the club, we have got 12 batters that can bat in the top six for the first team.

“I think we probably had five or six first-team players, but one person making their debut and one playing for the first team for the second or third time.

“But genuinely, everyone put in a good performance.”

Surrey Championship Premier Division side Wimbledon were 119-1 before the away team limited them well.

Gray said: “By the end of our innings, it was spinning quite a lot but, generally, it was flat and small boundaries. It was more a 240 to 260-type ground.

“It was sort of in the balance at halfway. They were 117-1 at drinks, it could have gone either way.

“But we knew, if we took some wickets, that’s the way to stop their momentum.

“As Ben [Chapman] and Zack [Fagg] showed, it was quite hard to stop the momentum because a lot of sixes were hit throughout the day.

“That [taking wickets] gave us a bit more flexibility.

“We didn’t have to worry so much about the death bowling because we were down to nine, 10 and 11 by then.”

Gray played his part with figures of 5-36 from 8.2 overs.

But he said: “I think it was a bit of burglary, really! We had an inexperienced bowling attack, which meant we had to bowl spin late in the innings.

“It can go quite wrong, it did against Holmesdale a couple of weeks ago.

“But, because I took some wickets, it was hard for them.”

In reply, a 116-run opening partnership between Zack Fagg (55) and wicketkeeper Ben Chapman (54) gave them a perfect platform.

“It was brilliant,” reflected Gray.

“There’s a weird rule in that tournament, so there’s one 15-over powerplay at the start of the innings.

“In that 15 overs if two players can get in, especially on a flat pitch that has small boundaries, like we had on Sunday, then [they] can cause some damage.

“They pretty much played the powerplay perfectly to get to 55 and 54. It was really good batting.”

Teenager Kit Keey also chipped in with a 50-ball 47 and Gray said: “He batted beautifully. He’s only 18.

“Kit played for the first team for the first time last year. The amount he’s developed was noticeable.

“He hit the ball very hard and played very well, and he only got out to a very good delivery.

“He, and then Tom Burnap and Benji, steadied us.”

Town were 58-3 after 17 overs against Lordswood when rain stopped play for the afternoon in the league.

Gray reflected: “It was a difficult pitch.

“In a 50-over game, we still felt we would have had a decent chance because 190 might have been defendable. But once it started raining, we would have lost out if it got reduced to 20 or 25 overs.

“It would have been advantageous to them.”

There’s another double-header this weekend for Sandwich, who host Hayes in the league today and visit Sevenoaks Vine in their Twenty20 Cup Quarter-Final tomorrow.

“If we’re honest, T20s are probably our strongest format as a team,” Gray suggested.

“Basically, we have good, defensive bowling and good, attacking batting - so that suits us.”

It was revealed on Thursday their Australian overseas all-rounder, James Bazley, will play for Kent in the One-Day Cup.

George Laslett’s unbeaten 56 and a 26-ball 43 not out by Matthew Carney, along with Niewoudt, helped Sandwich 2nds reach 242-4 from 41 overs before the rain in their Division 3 home game against Bromley Common 2nds.