A much-changed White Coppice 1st XI finished a remarkable season with their 15th league win after beating Norcross 2nd XI by 49 runs.

With promotion already secured, White Coppice knew they couldn’t catch league winners Preston Strikers, but there was still plenty to play for.

Norcross were the only team White Coppice hadn’t beaten this season after their first league meeting was rained off and Norcross won their Crabtree Cup semi-final.

With Jake Smalley at yet another wedding, ever-present Ryan Adderley stood in as captain.

Leading wicket-taker Matt Tinsley and Tom Sandells were also unavailable, while there was a 1st XI debut for Tom Lloyd.

Norcross won the toss and decided to bowl first on a green wicket.

Richard Bush cut one to point early on, but Chris Maguire played well for his 28, including five fours, before being bowled with the score on 45.

Anis Haider (13), Ryan Adderley (15), Syed Bukhari (17) and debutant Lloyd (19) all reached double figures.

The telling contribution came from the team’s other ever-present, Ant Dark, who shared a 56-run partnership with Lloyd.

Dark has just moved house and his top score of 36 took him to an impressive 383 runs for the season at an average of 32.

His latest two sixes took his total for the season to 24 – 24 more than Ryan Adderley!

White Coppice were bowled out for 150 in the 44th over, which felt just above par.

Norcross’ innings got off to a disastrous start when Srikanth Danthoju was bowled first ball by John Townson.

Haider took his 26th wicket of an impressive season when he bowled Rahul Sharma for 15 before James Speakman struck with his first ball to dismiss Aneesh Thomas for 20.

Adderley took 2-18 from his nine overs and even managed to turn one delivery, while Bukhari finished with 3-12 – including two wickets in two balls.

There was another milestone for Dark, who reached 50 catches for White Coppice and ended the season with 22 catches and seven stumpings.

A special mention also goes to groundsman Phil Dewhurst for producing an excellent square all season.

As soon as the game finished, the team headed over to Blackburn to watch the 2nd XI win the Division 8 title in dramatic fashion.