We were fourth, couldn’t get to third, and all but couldn’t drop to fifth either. But as I walked through the gates, I still had those immovable nerves sitting firmly in the pit of my stomach.

I was the first to arrive, so I took a minute to myself to reflect on the season. It’s been a season of ups and downs; hundreds, five-fers and great catches, brilliant team performances and, of course, plenty of dropped catches. A few batting collapses, some memorable victories, and the odd “how on earth did we lose that one?” moment.

It’s such an honour to captain this club’s First XI, and I’ll never be able to thank each and every member who has allowed me to do it this season enough. (I’m not done yet!)

As I stood there reflecting and wondering where on earth these nerves were coming from, my thoughts turned to “our brave boys” just down the road. Only a couple of hundred metres away, but with absolutely everything on the line. I’m sure that Leo is currently writing a report that will cover all of that and then some, but well done, fellas. We’re all incredibly proud of the job you so convincingly did in the league this year.

As for our game, which this report should probably be about, I guess. We were playing the team sitting bottom of the league, a side who have had a particularly interesting season. They were top of the league for much of the first half, before seemingly and inexplicably falling all the way to rock bottom. I think it’s safe to say we weren’t entirely sure what to expect. As Leo Connolly and I stood having a chat before the game, the thought did cross our minds that they might not show up altogether. That wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world, as we could have made our way down to the Griffin and watched the full 2s game instead. Anyway, this wasn’t to be. At 11:46, five members of the opposition finally turned up, followed by a few more a couple of minutes later, and by 12 our scheduled start time they had managed to assemble eight or nine players.

I had a chat with their skipper and informed him that they would be batting, having forfeited the toss by being late. In any case, we were looking for a quick game, with somewhere to be no later than 4pm. Thankfully, everyone did their jobs in this regard.

Giordy removed their opener early doors as he does with Gus taking the first of his three catches on the day. Standing up to the stumps, he very tidily took a tricky chance to start things off. One of the joys I’ve found in captaining the side this year is that, more often than not, whoever I give the ball to will invariably take a wicket within their first couple of overs. Today was no different. Everyone who bowled took at least one wicket, with Canelo’s three and Sandeep’s two on debut for the 1’s being the standout contributions. Sandeep, in particular finishing with the frankly ridiculous figures of 2.2 overs 0 runs 2 wickets.

We eventually bowled them out for either 52, 53 or 54. After much discussion, we decided it was 53. We decided to turn straight and start the chase before heading over for tea. The batting order was jigged around a little, with Marz and Gus opening things up. Unfortunately, Marz fell early to a delivery which, I’m sure, on another day would give Lonnen a run for his money, I’m pretty certain it ends up somewhere in the church grounds next time. In walked Umar and, without breaking a sweat, he and Gus guided the 1s to a rather straightforward victory. All wrapped up in eight overs.

Finished by 3:15, we were well on track to make it over to the 2s and enjoy watching them stroll to a league victory in the sun. And what a sight it was, a couple of hundred beers, plenty of Cheer(se) XI, partners, friends, kids, a stag do, posters, more drinks, dogs, Presidents and pretty much everything in between were down at the Griffin, watching those boys bring the title home for the club.

I’ve not done the maths on how many players have represented the 1s and 2s in the league this year, but it’s a lot. And that moment was for every single one of them.

Congratulations to Leo et al. What a season and what an achievement.

Showers, drinks and singing late into the night followed.

Match report from Sean McGurn