Cricket round-up: Tewin are champions after beating Bushey

The maths was simple, whoever the winner was in the match with Bushey would walk away champions.

And it came down to the final few overs before Tewin could celebrate on their home ground.

Bushey won the toss and chose to field first, which seemed  a good decision when two wickets fell for just 27 runs.

Luke Wilde and Ash Patel set about steadying the ship and put together a third-wicket partnership of 59 before the skipper went for 36, made in 38 deliveries.

Patel and Will Pickworth put on another 36 for the fourth wicket but Pickworth's departure signalled a collapse, going from 122-3 to 124-8.

Patel went in the middle of that for a patient 41 from 123 balls faced but Paul Shankster came in to turn the game back round.

He smashed 33 in 22 balls, seven of them fours, as Tewin finished on 166 after 46 overs.

The visitors had a decent enough start in reply with 42 for the first wicket but had added another 63 when their eighth batsman departed.

Mohammed Asif and Farooq Hameed led the fightback though and had put on before Will Pickworth took the vital wicket of Asif for 27 in the 32nd over.

That left the final pairing of Hameed (20*) and Michael Oliaro with plenty of time but still needing 34 runs.

And they crept close but Pickworth struck again in the 38th over, bowling Oliaro for 10 to start the celebrations.

He finished on 2-9, the same figures as Shankster, with Josh Crutchett getting 2-24.

Datchworth also won, by 69 runs against Ickleford, but finished third, 11 points behind Bushey who had gained more than enough bonus points at Tewin to go up too.

Tom Bennett (66) and Kieran Atkinson (54) top-scored for Datch in their 279-8 before they bowled Ickleford out for 210 in the 48th over.

Welwyn Garden City still have a play-off to go in their season, where victory over Shenley Village will send them back to the Premier Division at the first time of asking.

They warmed up for that with a 60-run success at Preston.

The hosts bowled first and took regular wickets preventing any of the WGC top order making any big runs.

Welwyn skipper Connor Emerton was not out for 51 to shore up the Welwyn middle order and gave the innings some needed impetus.

It took them to 184-9 off their 50 overs with Justin Powick (3-48) and Omar Faleel (4-39) the best of the Preston bowlers.

And despite decent knocks of 48 from Jake George and 33 from Powick, the Preston reply stuttered to a close on 124 in the 37th over.

That was mostly because of Jacob Logan who took 5-17 in 8.1 overs, Simon Bridgewater chipping in with two wickets.

The play-off against Shenley will take place on Saturday at Digswell Park.

Dave Roberts batted superbly for Knebworth Park. Picture: RICHARD HUTCHINSON (Image: Richard Hutchinson)

Knebworth Park pulled off a three-wicket win over promotion chasing Old Finchleians in Division Two B.

From a seemingly doomed 19-6,  chasing 138 to win, Dave Roberts and Amelia Kemp transformed the course of the game.

Patiently they dug in and added 63 runs before Kemp was run out for 11 from 81 balls.

Even after Kemp was out though there was still a 56 needed.

However, skipper Matt Hutchinson produced an authoritative 38 not out including one huge straight six while at the other end Roberts spent over two hours at the crease in scoring a determined and unbeaten 62.

Earlier the visitors batsmen were also in trouble as Charlie Randall's destructive pace took 4-30 and reduced them to 62-5.

Fellow opening bowler Gareth Jones chipped in with 2 for 27 as Finchley were all out for 137.

The seconds finished the season with a comfortable five-wicket win over Ickleford seconds, securing fourth place in Division Six B.

Ickleford won the toss and decided to bat and KPCC were soon on top, reducing them to 51-6, with Rob Burnell (3-40) leading the way.

Taking the seventh wicket proved difficult again and Ickleford recovered to 120-6 until Graham Fisher got the breakthrough.

Some sloppy fielding and plenty of extras helped Ickleford finish on 177 all out.

In reply Rob Slack led from the front with an excellent 38, Sujith Reddy entertained with a rapid 34, including five consecutive fours, while Ahmed Abdi made 36 on his second team debut.

It meant the job was done in 33 overs.

Iain Hildenbrandt's innings of 65 was unable to steer the thirds to victory as they went down by 17 runs to Stevenage fifths. 

Ryan Ellis was the pick of the bowlers in reducing the visitors to 171-9 and in reply Knebworth were all out for 154.

The final game of a much-improved season for the fourths was an afternoon of mixed fortunes.

Welwyn Garden City fifths elected to bat but made a slow start, which Park eventually took advantage of as Mark Chapelhow, John Inman and Syed Abdi all took three wickets each. 

Tom Matthews took the other wicket and Ian Murrill and James Best took a catch each, restricting WGC to just 85 runs.

But scoring runs was not easy and Knebworth made heavy weather of their reply.

Only Archie Lowrie (16) and Thomas Matthews (18) made an innings of note, as Knebworth were bowled out for just 76.

Hatfield & Crusaders ended their season with a victory, beating Shenley Village in Division Four A by 23 runs and leaving them fifth, while Hatfield House were successful in Division Four B.

They beat Flamstead by seven wickets to finish the year fourth, seven points behind second-placed Broxbourne.