Gore Court celebrated their first win in three years at the weekend.

It was worth the wait as Court took the final five Tonbridge wickets for just 19 runs.

Off-spinner Adam Collins (5-29) claimed three wickets in five balls to clinch victory and cue long overdue celebrations for a club who nearly folded a couple of years ago due to player shortages.

It was 1,072 days since Court last tasted victory in the Kent Cricket League, one of only three wins during a 2018 campaign that ended in relegation from Division 2.

The former Premier Division club were relegated again the following year, without winning a game, while the 2020 campaign was wiped out by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Court started this season in Division 4 with no wins in eight but gave themselves a much-needed lift with Saturday’s victory.

Captain-for-the-day Alex Campbell top-scored with 61 in a total of 153 all out.

Court feared it may not be enough and that looked to be the case as Tonbridge moved along nicely to 116-5.

But Court had their moment as wickets tumbled and they won by 18 runs with Tonbridge all out for 135.

Collins, who’s been with the club for 20 years, said: “We thought our total might be about 20 runs short - we were hoping to get around 170.

“When Tonbridge were 116-5 we thought that was probably it, but it turned out to be an exciting finish.

“To get the last five wickets for 19 runs, and three in the last over, was brilliant.

“We went mad when the last wicket went lbw for 0.

“It’s been a long time since that last win - the club’s been close to folding - but we’ve kept going and still enjoyed our cricket.

“We were away but we were able to get some beers from the bar and enjoy them outside.”

Court remain bottom of Division 4 but are only seven points behind Tonbridge with half a season to go.

Collins said: “It’s one win, so we’re not getting carried away, but we feel we’re good enough to stay up.

“There haven’t been any games where we’ve been totally outclassed.

“The problem is losing becomes a habit.

“Saturday was the first game this season where we’ve really played well and we got a result.

“We’re hoping one win might bring two and we can get some momentum going.

“We probably need to win five or six of our last nine games to stay up.”

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