Perfect Nine

And so the final curtain fell on what has been a massively enjoyable and successful season not only for the Mighty Four's but for the whole club. We welcomed fellow promoted side Stoke Green 3's with Tring needing not only to win but keep Stoke Green below 5 points to finish top . . . A massive ask.
We won the toss and elected to bat on another Doyley belter and got off to a decent start. KK with a rapid 24 and Dick Highton with 28 got us off to a solid start but Stoke gave us very little to hit in the way of bad balls and at half way we were 65-3.

Stoke continued to bowl well but Steve " Jug Avoider" Wale (pictured) with 49 and Jimmy Dewhirst kept the scoreboard ticking over well.
The Jimmy dab was brought down from Harrogate to Tring to help him onto to 62 and with Ash " injured again " Vos hitting out at the end we ended up on 189-4. A decent effort.

Stoke needed 150 to draw level with us on points and win the league on more games won, 175 to get one more point than us and 190 to win the game. We got off to a great start with Ed Pike picking up two early wickets and Jacob Hendin taking an excellent catch to dismiss their star batsman Gully Khan. Game on.

With Steve Wale and Greg Lem bowling tightly we were on top. A superb run out or total fluke run out by skipper Grouty where he flicked the ball up with his foot and fired it in reduced to Stoke to 95-7 off 23 overs.

By now the 2's had won and were supporting us along with a well lubricated group from the Rugby club. Rarely has " walking in a Grouty wonderland " been belted out!! However Stoke decided not to take many risks and settled for ensuring they would get at
least 150.

Their skipper batted responsibly to get them to 150 and then attacked but we bowled them out for 173 to win the game.

So the Fours have played nine and won nine at home. We finished level on points with Stoke Green at the top. What a fantastic achievement .

Thanks to all have played this season , a great balance of players have made it a great season. This was followed by a very enjoyable messy end of season celebration . Dentist Chair indeed!!

Next season will bring new challenges in Division Seven. Bring it on. Thanks to any-one who has read my ramblings this season.

See you next season.