We’ve been good all year, could you pick it?

Well, before this degenerates further into a bad parody, it seems Santa has been listening after making an appearance at Belvoir Cricket Club this week.

And while he did seem like he’d been into the mince pies and brandy already, and the hammies were a little creaky in the nets, good old St Nick seemed like he was in a generous mood.

After drawing up his list of who’s been naughty or nice, the man in red reckoned the cricketers deserved a break.

“We could say they’ve been pretty good,” he said.

“They’ve been training hard and doing all the right things.”

Santa spokesman and junior co-ordinator Terry Haefield said Belvoir would need to be at its best when it takes on the league’s strongest side, East Albury, today.

And he hoped Santa’s visit at training on Thursday night would help.

“We had Santa turn up for a bit of a bowl and a bit of a bat,” Haefield said.

“It was a bit of fun and we’re hoping he’ll deliver a few early Christmas presents, some runs and some wickets for the cricket games.

“Our firsts are playing East Albury who are the top side, they’ve made the most runs and lost the least amount of wickets so we thought his visit might be good timing.”

Mr Claus had a busy week, also turning up to the under-12s training yesterday.

By its lofty standards the club finds itself in a disappointing eighth on the Provincial ladder.

“Every club wants to succeed and do the best they can,” Haefield said.

“And we’d love to improve our position across all grades.

“But the atmosphere at the club is really good, a lot of juniors are coming through the ranks.

“In the under-12s Kaiden Withers got two hat-tricks in one game and we’ve had under-16s playing in the seniors.”

John Spencer might be Belvoir’s answer to East Albury’s impressive numbers, leading the club’s run scoring and averaging 31.5.

But he, and the team, will need to lift if the club is looking to make a showing this season.

“John’s shown a lot of improvement and he hits the ball really well,” Haefield said.

“And if people carry the form they’re showing in the nets that would be great, we want everyone to put it together on a Saturday.”

So Santa, please hurry down the chimney tonight.