English Club Cricket: Honours for Hounslow (17 Sep 1998)

17 September 1998

Club Cricket: Honours for Hounslow

By Geoffrey Dean

HOUNSLOW are the new Thames Valley League champions with 12 wins from 19 games. Runners-up, Finchampstead, managed 10 victories, while Reading secured third place when they were the only side to manage a positive conclusion last Saturday.

Set 231 by Slough, after Derbyshire's Gul Khan had made a fifty, Reading got home by six wickets thanks to Mark Simmons' unbeaten 102. Kidmore End were left bottom of the table, while Maidenhead & Bray topped Division Two.

Eastbourne clinched the Sussex League after trouncing fourth-placed Crowborough by eight wickets, Richard Halsall and Darren Stevens each signing off with fifties. Horsham were runners-up with Preston Nomads third. The top nine sides form the new Premier League next year.

Hungerford won the Southern League after Calmore Sports lost by eight wickets to Waterlooville when victory would have given them the title. Hungerford reduced South Wilts to 17 for six and eased home by eight wickets. Captain Toby Radford, once of Middlesex and Sussex, ended the season with 562 runs, supported by former Hampshire all-rounder, Julian Wood, who totalled 350 as well as taking 30 wickets.

The Surrey Championship and the Middlesex League are being trimmed to 10-club premierships next year, but the respective 1997 champions, Wimbledon and Ealing, will be in Division Two as both came 11th.

WOLVERHAMPTON have taken the Birmingham League title following an emphatic victory in their final game of the season against Kidderminster. After James Henderson hit 86 out of 198 for six from 39 overs they dismissed their opponents for 115, with Warwickshire spinner Gavin Franklin taking five for 22.

Walsall, who had led the table from early June until early September, had to be content with second place. They needed Wolverhampton to slip up and the fact that rain almost certainly deprived them of victory against Moseley was therefore academic. Aston Unity are relegated while Cannock gain promotion.

Kibworth are the Leicestershire County League champions after beating Lutterworth. Lutterworth, who finished third, could have won the title had they been victorious by a large margin, but it was they who were trounced after declaring at 153 for eight. Phil Robinson hammered an unbeaten 76 as Kibworth waltzed home by 10 wickets.

Loughborough finished runners-up after seamer John Corbett, with seven for 32, ensured that Leicester Ivanhoe were seen off by eight wickets. Last year's champions, Barrow, were relegated, just a point from safety.

Sandiacre Town clinched the Gunn and Moore Alliance title with a winning draw against Southwell. Duncan Benbridge hit an unbeaten 106 out of 198 before Southwell struggled to 91 for six.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)