TINTAGEL skipper Matt Jolliffe admitted it was great to be ‘back in a league where I think we deserve to be and belong’ after the Knights made an immediate return to Division Two East of the Bond Timber Cornwall Cricket League this summer.

The village outfit were one of four sides – along with Ladock, South Petherwin and Menheniot-Looe to drop down as the leagues were restructured into 10-team divisions.

However, despite the weather not being in their favour a lot of the time as they saw clashes at promotion rivals Saltash and Grampound Road both called off, the Knights just edged out the Ashes and the Roadies to take the runners-up spot behind Menheniot-Looe.

The East Cornwall side won both fixtures between the two, including a remarkable chase of 348 at Tintagel, but in the end it didn’t matter too much as they moved back up to the third-tier.

A delighted Jolliffe told the Post: “I’m really happy to be back in Division Two, a league where I think we deserve to be and belong.

“It was a tough league with some decent sides involved, but in the end it was our batting depth that was crucial for us to be promoted. Everyone chipped in with runs.”

He continued: “At the beginning of the year we had the ambition of winning the league, but the weather didn’t help us either as twice when we were rained off, Menheniot managed to play.

“But at the end of the day it’s about getting promoted, and that’s what we did.”

Tintagel’s very small ground, particularly straight, means it can often be an arduous ask to be a bowler, and Jolliffe knows they’ll need to improve that area if they are to avoid an immediate return to Division Three.

However, he did praise the efforts of Australian seamer Jack Minehan who weighed in with 21 wickets in the league, but just as crucially went at less than four an over.

No other bowler got more than 20 wickets – Minehan’s new ball partner Vedavyas Kankanala got 17, while Jordan Blanchard (15) and Tom Parsons (13) chipped in.

Jolliffe knows they’ll need to find a way of taking wickets next summer, a feat not easy in a far tougher division.

He continued: “Jack was a great overseas, he fitted into the club perfectly and was a great asset on and off the pitch. We’re hoping to have him back next year, hopefully as a UK passport holder, and if he can, then we’ll look to get another overseas bowler.

“Over the winter we’ll also be trying to get a couple of players in, ideally a couple of bowlers, as in the games against Menheniot we scored 340-odd and 260-odd batting first and still lost.

“We didn’t bowl well enough in those games, so if we can improve those areas we shouldn’t be far away.”

While the bowling didn’t always go to plan, the batting certainly did.

The returning Ryan Pooley blasted 640 runs at a strike-rate of well over 150, while Jolliffe himself made 450 runs from just 13 games, and Jordan Burnard (372) and Parsons (360) weren’t far behind either.

The club are also waiting on confirmation as to whether the second team are promoted from Division Seven East, while Jolliffe also thanked the club’s volunteers and supporters following a successful summer.