Skipper Jan Gray has tipped Sandwich Town’s departing overseas all-rounder James Bazley to have a successful Kent stint.

Australian Bazley, 28, signed for Spitfires’ One-Day Cup defence after playing for Town this summer.

“I think that was always part of his plan for him coming over,” said Gray.

“Obviously he came over to play club cricket but, if there were any opportunities, he would be around to play potentially for a county as well.

“That can only be good for his career.”

Bazley plays for Queensland, where he was born, and has turned out for Brisbane Heat in the T20 Big Bash League Down Under.

Gray added: “I would have thought he would be up there - if not one of the better players in the side.”

Bazley ended with figures of 2-20 from five overs as Kent beat Yorkshire by two runs on Duckworth-Lewis in a rain-disrupted opener on Tuesday. They play Leicestershire at Beckenham this Sunday.

But Sandwich will still have an overseas player, Cody Nieuwoudt now having been promoted from their second-team squad.

“James only ever was getting 14 [league] games for us because Queensland originally wanted him back then,” Gray explained.

“So we’ve only missed out on two games from him.

“But Cody is one of the top runscorers in the Kent League. He’s a very good replacement.”

He got off to a winning start as Town eased their Kent League Premier Division relegation fears with a five-wicket home win against Hayes last Saturday.

Harry Bee and Alex Smith both claimed 3-30 amid the visitors’ 189 all out.

There was another quickfire half-century for opener Zack Fagg in reply, 53 off 43 balls, and Nieuwoudt (21 not out) saw them home.

Gray reflected: “It was very good.

“This year, when we have won, it’s generally been with really good team performances. I think they were about 120-3 or 125-3 at drinks.

“We knew with our bowling, if we could get one wicket, we could get a few.

“Then, it was probably one of the best batting performances we have had all season. Lots of batsmen have done well - but we have been losing wickets in clumps at a time.

“But on Saturday, Zack and Kit [Keey] started really, really well and, every time we lost a wicket and it felt like there was a possibility they could get back in the game, the next partnership was really good.

“We always stayed ahead of it. We won comfortably.”

But the next day, they lost by nine wickets at Sevenoaks Vine in their KCL Twenty20 Cup Quarter-Final despite a 32-ball 38 from Alex Smith.

Gray joked: “This year, we have made it look good either way. We win by a lot or lose by a lot!

“We needed them 30-3 off the powerplay and they got 30 in two overs, and got 80 in the powerplay.

“Thankfully they kept going at it because, if they just ground it out, it could have been a tough last few overs.”

A quirk of the fixture list is Sandwich visit Sevenoaks again today - this time in the Kent Premier Division.

“They’re always a tough team,” Gray said.

“I think they’re one of the teams that are tough to beat at home.

“If we’re going to beat them, it will be down quite a bit to playing smart cricket. But we’re easily good enough.”

There’s no competitive clash for Town this Sunday - but the day marks the beginning of their cricket week, which runs until Thursday.

Sandwich 2nds lost to Catford & Cyphers by 123 runs in Division 3.