After a week of poor weather, the wicket was pretty green, and Tunbridge Wells certainly had no hesitation about inserting the 1st XI on winning the toss under low cloud. They were quickly rewarded with two early wickets for seamer Barker.

However, captain Charlie Speller stood tall in these difficult conditions to repel the new ball danger, tickling Barker to the fine-leg fence and crashing a drive through the covers, well supported by Riley Ayre (20). When Ayre nicked off to make it 48/3, Matt Golding joined Speller, and this pair accumulated carefully, with Golding carefully eschewing his usual buccaneering stroke play, to reach drinks at 89/3.

On resumption, Speller reverse swept O’Riordan for four and shortly afterwards, glided the spinner down to third man to bring up a priceless fifty. But, just as the position was starting to look reasonably comfortable, Golding (17) unluckily snicked off while looking to punish a wide one, and Speller was held at long on for 56. This presaged something of a reversal of fortune, as the incoming lower order found the going difficult against the spinners, with Blackheath reduced to 118/9 before Arafat Bhuiyan (12) helped lift them to 136 all out. O’Riordan and Jayalath finished with 3 wickets each for the visitors.

The 1st XI could be forgiven for feeling rather deflated following such a quick end to the innings, especially when Tunbridge Wells put a quick 20 on the board in response. However, this team has repeatedly proven their resilience over the past season. And, not for the first time, Arafat Bhuiyan (2/30) was the catalyst, snicking off Williams to slip, where Wells held a good catch. He followed up by eliciting a loose waft from the Wells captain, caught Birdi in the covers, and then by taking a fine catch on the midwicket boundary to give Riley Ayre his first wicket, off a skied slog sweep from Shah.

Ayre repeated the trick on O’Riordan, with another slog sweep going straight up, safely pouched by Shakeel Ansar. At the other end, Jahid Ahmed (2/30) was extracting prodigious swing under the leaden skies, and clean bowled Smith with an absolute jaffa that just clipped the top of the off peg.

A change of spinner yielded immediate results at the tennis court end, as Jas Bassan (2/17) pinned Webb LBW, and then had Jayalath caught at slip by G.Wells to reduce T.Wells to 81/7. At this point, the increasingly numerous and vocal crowd heard that St Lawrence & Highland Court had completed a 36 run win over frontrunners Minster, meaning that a Blackheath win would see them top the Premier League table.

Wells were in no mood to acquiesce though, and a mini-fightback led by Barker (24) caused some concern before Riley Ayre won an LBW decision against Barker to complete figures of 3/15 from 10 overs. With Ahmed cleaning up Freeman in his last over, it was fittingly left to Matt Golding to complete the victory, roaring in from the top end to tickle the very top of McGroarty’s off stump, dismissing Tunbridge Wells for 106, and sparking joyous celebrations at the Rectory Field.

The 1st XI had put together a run of seven consecutive wins to close out the season, broken only by a wash-out. The team deserve every credit for closing out several tight and low-scoring matches during that run, revealing their determined character, ability to bounce back from setbacks, and an excellent team spirit.

The team and Club celebrated long into the night, with practically the entire membership squeezing into the changing room for a singsong! Another day that will live long in the memory of all who were present, and which adds to the incredible history of Blackheath Cricket Club.

"Up the Club!"