Around 6pm on Saturday a pack of Romiley men could be seen hugging and jumping in joy on the Bunbury boundary. Alex Barber’s men had good reason for wrecking the countryside peace. They had just seen themselves crowned Meller Braggins Cheshire League Division 3 champions at the first time of asking…. With Woodford two points ahead before the start of this final round of matches, we needed a combination of results to do it. We did our part, earning a 25-point win at Cheshire County Officers in a little under 40 overs. And the speed of the eight-wicket win allowed us time to get to Bunbury to cheer them on against Woodford. The third –placed home side needed only 93 to win to get us to the summit, but by the time they were 87-8, nails were being bitten off. Then one glorious shot took them to victory and us to glory – Woodford finally left trailing us to promotion by 19 points . Earlier, Dave Garner, back from his South American jaunt, figured heavily in what was probably our best bowling performance of the season. The big paceman took 3-10 in seven mean overs – he was once on a hat-trick—as Chester were hurtled out for 53 in the 26th over. Only the burly No 5, Johnson(19) reached double figures. Nick Fithon, whose splendid slip catch removed the gutsy left hander off Ned Kelly’s bowling, did even better, taking 3-9 in nine overs. Alex Barber also had a personal reason for remembering the day, the first of his two wickets was his 50th of a memorable season.  The bowling was backed by intense fielding and sticky-fingered catching. The team still looked hungry although we were already promoted and that was good to see. Our only threat was the weather and, with the rain coming harder and harder, we were grateful to the umpires and Chester for staying out there when they would probably have been justified in coming off. In the end, we needed under 14 overs to get the 54 needed.  Ned Kelly, promoted to open with Ben Allcock, led us home, top scoring with 29, a knock which included some choice shots. Then it was off to Bunbury—and a good night……….
Scores: Chester County Officers 53(25.2 overs; Johnson 19; Fithon 3-9, D.Garner 3-10, Barber 2-12, P.Garner 1-14, Kelly 1-1). Romiley 54-2(13.4 overs; Kelly 29)