After a sensational victory vs North London last week, the 1s travelled to Wembley knowing that 1 bonus point would be enough to seal promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Losing the toss on a soft wicket, Finchley were inserted and didn’t start well. On a tough wicket, leading run scorer Gish Herath was trapped LBW, before Will Leggett chipped one to midwicket. Not easy out there at all, and at 10-2 a rebuilding job was needed with overseas Caleb and skipper Tom Powe at the crease. Rebuild they did, with Tom taking advantage of anything loose to pepper Wembley’s short boundaries. Despite prodigious spin on offer, at 64-2 Finchley looked to be pressing towards a commanding total. Tom slapped one to midwicket, however, to depart for a quickfire 33, precipitating a mini-collapse in the face of very favourable bowling conditions. 69-5 and it looked to have the makings of a low-scoring shootout, but Matt (43) came in to join Caleb (60) and the pair put together a match-defining partnership. Either side of a rain delay, the pair weathered the storm and then began to put push the scoring rate up, in a brilliant 90-run partnership that went a long way towards winning the game. After both fell looking to push the scoring rate on, the platform had been laid for the lower order to back-end the innings. A combined 42(21) from Seb and Adam did just that, and the Finch finished on 214. Comfortably above par on a tricky wicket.

Dave and Seb have been a massive part of the side’s success this year, often ripping through opposition top orders, so it was fitting that the pair blew the game apart in the first 5 overs. Two shins were dispatched in Seb’s first over, before Dave joined the party 3 balls later. 0-3 became 2-4 in the 5th over when an absolute seed of doom from Dave (brilliantly caught by Matt behind the stumps) saw the back of Wembley’s main batter. A couple of partnerships held Finchley at bay but the game was all but over. Neal bowled a great spell without any support from the umpire, while Adam whirled away at the other end in a typically economic spell. A succession of bombs from the Wembley skipper had taken the score from 66-7 to 112-7, before Caleb finished the game in sensational style. With their skipper stranded at the other end, the 8th wicket fell caught at slip before next ball Joe took an excellent catch at cover. One wicket for the hat trick and promotion; everyone on the ground knew what was coming. If Caleb could get his googly straight it was game over. Game over. Limbs everywhere for the boys in green as promotion was confirmed. Winchmore Hill spurned a great position against Brondesbury which meant that Finchley were just short of winning the league by 1 point, but a sensational second half of the season winning 9 of the last 10 games gave the club a well-deserved promotion.

It's been a team effort in the purest sense this year, with everyone contributing to winning performances at different points of the season. A brilliant achievement by a group that is growing together, and will look to make a strong impression in the prem next year. A big thanks also to Trevor, whose scoring, wisdom and humour has been ever present this year. UTF!

2s (206ao) lost to Osterley (224-8) by 18 runs

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So. Here it is. The final showdown. After 17 weeks of trial and tribulation, chases and failed chases, however many hundred overs of cricket and however many hundred more expletives mumbled or yelled, one league fixture remained. Osterley stood between the warm ups and Finchley’s end of season party, to have a hand in deciding whether it would be commiseratory or celebratory. And with this conundrum, one more question. One final, overarching question. Possibly for later.

As usual, nobody gave a toss about who won the toss, the opposition batted, and Finchley enthusiastically went after them with the ball. Dave and Nir, the latter fresh from two weeks resting an injured back, attempted to make inroads on an unforgiving wicket and once again were victim to the wrath of Khan whilst his opening partner plodded along. Nasty Nir soon reverted to type and aimed exclusively at their heads, a good effort against a seemingly 8 foot tall man, shaking him up enough for him to only hit Mikey Harilall as far as Ross...on the boundary. Efforts from the Osterley batters to press on from this stage were severely hindered by the flock turning the screw with some wonderful fielding, including a superb running and diving over-the-shoulder catch from the skipper and an absolutely sensational low one-handed snaffle by TLB. The quality of the camerawork, or lack thereof in this case, has a lot to answer for. Ignoring various spectators' efforts to captain from the sidelines Dave stuck with the youthful spin attack who, when they weren’t reminding Rishan by way of demonstration how painful low blows are, proved masterful in restricting scoring opportunities and giving the home side more catching practice. Wickets were shared evenly among the spinners whilst fielders kept running around and Ross took the gloves, Osterley finishing on 224. What was that about low 200s scores again?

As is familiar by now, the chase started with the skipper being measured at the start of his innings and Yuvresh being a bit less so. Some lovely shots were accompanied by a dropped catch which was unusually not taken advantage of, resulting in Yuvee being dismissed relatively early. The ever-relaxed Benji strolled to the crease, bringing calm to the ground for a considerable time as he and Dave consolidated and ticked along at the required rate. A situation or event that would anger Benji has been harder to discover than Atlantis thus far, but getting out sweeping twice in successive weeks appeared to be the one weak link. Shaken by such a revelation the rest of the flock’s batting exploded like Benji’s newly found temper. The lineup began to crumble after Tim departed, despite the amusements of his muttered threats to the wrong man, and wickets fell quicker than a toddler on an icy pavement. Finchley needed a hero again. The inevitable Nir Shah? Not to be this time, after a fine edge. Ross? Given out in more than questionable circumstances. Dan McGowan? Missed a straight one. Shayam? Launched one directly skywards, and was caught this time. Mikey? Not at the crease for quite long enough. Houps? If anyone, Houps? Scraping the barrel for an unlikely hero, Houps? Almost. Despite a square bomb that sent the Finchley faithful scattering for cover, not even he could pull the boys over the line.

Promotion snatched away, leaving the hurting flock with the final question to be answered over the winter. How do the scriptwriters take their tea?

3s (278-6) beat Southgate (71ao) by 207 runs

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100 from Joel Grabinar and 80 from Jai Singh propelled the 3s to a massive victory to close out the season.

4s (379-9) beat Highgate (126ao) by 253 runs

4s fall an agonising 1 point short of promotion after a brilliant second half of the season. Runs were shared around on our way to a huge total, which was never in any danger of being chased down.