After Nick's demolition job of Timperley's bowling line-up the week before, the 1s were left with two away games at Alderley and Nantwich. To stand any chance of snatching the league title away from Hyde or Nantwich, they needed to win both games, and hope that the others lost both games over the weekend.

Last year's champs Alderley really had nothing to play for, sitting in 6th with no real way of improving or falling down the table. They brought out the big guns anyway, George Bell coming in for only his 2nd league game since July. Nick called wrong and skipper Sam Perry picked up a very nice toss to win and bowled first. Dids started off solidly, Tim launching a free hit way over deep square and into the neighbouring houses. 20 off the first 4 saw Alderley take pace off the ball, bringing on the military medium of Ed Foster. He found plenty of movement as the ball nipped around, snicking off Tom with a wide half-volley. He was soon followed by Tim, although the bowler wasn't in the slightest bit interested in an appeal. The pace of Chris Sanders did for Rob, and Dids were again staring down the barrel at 46-4 when Nick was given LBW to one that jagged back sharply after a few close shouts.

Sam and Joe set about a recovery, adding 43 whilst together, the highest partnership of the match. Joe was looking imperious on a tricky deck but was soon involved in a moment of contention. At the start of a Foster over, he had an uncharacteristic yahoo at a length ball and was caught at point. However, he instantly pointed out to the square leg umpire the 5 men outside the ring. After much discussion, a dead ball was called: no dismissal, but also no no ball nor subsequent free hit. When he snicked off for a really well made 41 a few overs later he was rather sensible and walked immediately. A counterattacking 20 off 25 from Sam, and a few bombs from Will got us up to 136, but with their quality batting line-up it was never going to be enough.

Alderley made pretty light work of the chase. Dids picked up pretty consistent wickets, (Jonty getting two LBs and a bowled) helped by the ball starting to keep a bit low, and so it took Alderley over 40 overs to get over the line, a sweep off the lesser spotted Rob Sehmi off-spin sealing the deal. Dids took away only three points but stayed ahead of Chester as they lost to Hyde. Nantwich winning at home to Toft made sure that the game on the Sunday was practically a dead rubber for the 1s.

That feeling wasn't helped when we had to wait almost 6 hours for any play. Was the ground really fit for play at 4pm for a 22 over game? Barely. Would the game have been called off at 1pm if it wasn't the last game of the season, and a league title was at stake? Almost certainly. More likely we wouldn't have even travelled given the forecast and rain overnight. One thing that couldn't be debated was how impressively effective Nantwich’s 35 grand super blotter was at removing standing water, of which there was plenty. Rather than kick up a stink about conditions, Nick just won the toss and batted first.

Given that at this point of the day the lads were beyond caring about the result, 93 all out off 18.3 really wasn't particularly surprising, although Nantwich did bowl very well, digging into back of a length to draw a lot of top edges. Sam in particular was really unlucky, flicking his first ball flat and straight to deep square leg. By this point, Hyde's game at Grappers had already been abandoned, with them 1 point short of guaranteeing the title on batting points. Nantwich now had a simple equation, win the game, win the league title.

Ali Chughtai carried on where he left off from his ton the day before, 27 coming off just 16 balls, with three 4s and two 6s. The rain, which had held off until now finally arrived again, and very quickly threatened the match. Somehow the players were kept on, despite what can only be described as persistent heavy drizzle, and some of the darkest conditions I've seen in a 1s match. The umpires eventually took them off after Jonty bowled Ray Doyle, much to the chagrin of the Nantwich skipper, as the rain became much lighter almost immediately. With only 4 minutes left until the game would be abandoned, the rain just stopped and the covers came off. However, by the time both teams were ready, the rain had returned. Nevertheless, on we went again, and Nantwich quickly got the rest of the runs, chasing in just 10.3 overs. Full tosses from Will, Jonty, and James (4 byes off a beamer winning the game) really outlined how slippy the ball was, the extra period of rain not helping an already muddy outfield; Charlie dropping one in the deep was also a novelty, just before coming off.

Will picked up three, Jonty taking the other, but it was an impossible task to defend 93 under those circumstances, especially as the bails don’t seem to fall off zing stumps when the ball rolls into them (Twice that happened in their innings). His Eminence Rehmani, making his 1st XI debut, tied up star bat Luke Robinson in the one over he ended up getting, and held onto a good catch at point, staring straight into the driving rain. The game ended at 6:30pm, exactly 9 hours after we left Dids, for only 29 overs of play. We probably got through more one-hand-one-bounce than actual cricket.

Despite scoring 43 less runs and taking 1 less wicket, Dids walked away with 5 points from the match, and just stayed in 3rd by 3 points. The points system really is a mess (especially in relation to rain-affected and abandoned matches) and needs some looking at over the winter (case in point, Maritime 2s came second in Div 2 despite winning all 18 games they played, 1 concession, 3 cancelled).

So, congrats to Nantwich, winning the league by a single point, the second year in a row that's happened. It's been a weird season for the 1s, as they were never really able to challenge the top dogs this season, but still held on for a very respectable 3rd place finish. As Nick was saying in the car back, it's probably the first time we have been in the Prem where we haven't been fighting for something right till the end of the season, whether that be the title or staving off relegation, and perhaps that caused a slight drop in levels as the season neared its close. So, one game left, the replayed Cheshire Cup final, at 11:30 on Saturday at Hyde, no doubt looking for some silverware after having it so cruelly snatched from them on the last day.