British Airways away in our final league game of the season a must win as we sat in third place 9 points behind second and 15 behind top spot. The skipper, (me), was absent at a wedding, Adam taking the reigns with a bit of discussion in the week regarding selection. Dan and Roomy came in to the side following the 2s title win last week.
The forecast was not good, rain due mid to late afternoon, so a plan to bowl first was really the only way we could force a result.
Toss lost, the hosts were also in need of points, so they decided to bat which suited us.
First wicket fell at 24, then a fine run out from Adam, wickets fell steadily, until the introduction of Roomy changed the game. A spell of 6 overs 5 wickets for 6 runs had BA collapsing to 86 all out, when i checked my phone at the wedding to this news i was as you can imagine rather excited. 3 wickets for the stand in skipper too.
We turned around straight away no tea, and had approximately 90 mins to knock the runs off before the rain came, Jack and Doyle opened, Doyle perished early before two controversial LBW decisions saw us 69-3, Jack top scoring with 34 to cap a fantastic season as our top run scorer from only 11 games out of 16 completed. A mini collapse saw us lose two more on 69, another at 78 and final one at 82 before a solid 31 not out from Dan got us to the 87 we needed for the loss of 7 wickets.
News came from Amersham that Hayes had declared on 200, gaining 10 points so that we were now level on points. They needed to go back out after tea and take two wickets for the title, but sadly for them no further play was allowed due to the rain so we were crowned champions and return to level 2 next year, Division 2a where we will play a few old favourites such as Kidmore End.
An amazing end to a fantastic season, MOM Tony Roome without doubt, but good support from Dan, Jack, Will and Adam.
Personally would like to thanks all 20 players who contributed to our title win, everyone played a part some big some small but we would not have achieved it without everyone involved.
Jack 491 runs, Willow 446 and Chris 374 were the pick of the batters.
Adam 32 wickets, Jonny 27 and Will 25 were the top bowlers.
Players used:
Jack Grinstead, Andrew Doyle, Chris Hollely, Alex Wilson, Mikey Davis, Alex Dunnage, Brad Passfield, Will Grinstead, Adam Passfield, Andrew Davis, Jonny Atkinson, Jeremy Davis, James Balcombe, Jake Sunderland, Tony Roome, Dan Sutton, Chris Fletcher, Matt James, George Whatling
Thanks also to Gavin for scoring, Jane and Michelle for the teas, and Jem and Jonny for preparing the wickets, roll on 2017.