Great Melton skipper Mark Scott believes the club must drive forward and not rest on their laurels despite sealing their second successive promotion last weekend.

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Melton are 29 points clear at the top of Norfolk Alliance Division Three and face a title decider against second-placed Swardeston B tomorrow. With the second team also in line for promotion from Division Five and two further Saturday teams performing well in the Norfolk League, the club clearly has a strong base for future development.

Scott said: “At the end of each season you need to look at your goals and with the progress made in the last two seasons, the club can afford to take stock and say that in five years’ time we need to be aiming to be in the Premier Division.

“We have the facilities to sustain that and we have got the youth development in place. If you don’t have that ambition, the good young players will look to play somewhere else. We have the foundations and the set-up to sustain a higher level of cricket so we should continue to develop.”

Victory tomorrow would guarantee Melton the title to add to the Division Four crown they collected last year and Scott said: “It is very important to us to finish top. We’ve been at the top for a good few weeks and I think we’re the best side in the division.

“It is a little ironic that it is Swardeston we’ve got to beat because they are the club that everyone aspires to be like. We’re playing their third team tomorrow which shows the incredible strength in depth they have. They are the blueprint for all of us.”

Scott said that opening bowler and middle order batsman Richard Waddell had been a big success in his first season at the club after moving to the area, while opening batsman Richard Wood has continued to plunder runs consistently. Norfolk Under-14s batsman Chris Greenslade, pictured, is one of the many young players to be flourishing at Great Melton and Scott added that half of the first team are products of the youth system: “I’m in awe of the efforts of the guys behind the scenes,” he said.

“People like Steve Phoenix (chairman), David Bunn (junior committee chairman), Simon Carding (coaching co-ordinator) and others seem to spend half their lives at the club and it’s nice for the Great Melton stalwarts to see their work paying off. The club is reaping the rewards of their hard work.”