At 7.55pm on Saturday,September 10, news was relayed to the becalmed Prestwich clubhouse that rivals Denton St Lawrence had hit the winning runs.

Prestwich had failed to retain the Lees Lancashire County League title, which they won for the first time in 97 years last year, by the slenderest of margins.

A shade unlucky, one Richie Benaud might have commented, in the circumstances.

Points level on 102, win and loss record identical, it boiled down to Denton St Lawrence (DSL) beating Prestwich in their two face-to-face confrontations.

Earlier in the day, the Heys Road boys had outplayed early season tearaways Denton to inflict a 106-run defeat and were left with a 75-minute wait to hear their fate, as the DSL encounter had been affected by rain.

DSL scampered the necessary runs with three wickets to spare at Dukinfield in light so dim that two Test umpires of certain repute would have been tucked up in bed with their light meters under their pillows.

There might also have been plenty of carrots consumed at the DSL tea interval, but the grapes on the Prestwich table should not turn sour. As in the spirit shown during the Ashes Series, congratulations went to DSL who would have equally felt mugged had the conditions wrestled away the title. After all, the weather had played into Prestwichs hands 12 months before.

An undisputably marvellous season had seen Prestwich defeated in the league by only one other club, Flowery Field, and that was on the opening day of the season.

At the start of the drama-packed day, Prestwich faced a tough assignment to even stand a chance of ove rhauling DSL as the visitors were

third-placed Denton. And if there was one player bemoaning the end of the season, it was the prolific Steve Davies, who hit a superlative century to add to his knock of 146 the previous week.

That was the cornerstone of a Prestwich total of 207 with good support from Craig Duxbury on 36, Ian Walker with 34, and a rapid 14 not out from Mike Hudson. Andy Bradleys 7 not out enabled him to reach a significant career landmark of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets for the team.

The home side needed to make early inroads againt a hard-hitting batting line-up, but exceeded their own expectations when they reduced Denton to 10 for 4, including the wicket of the prolific Mo Shafiq for a single, brilliantly yorked by Bradley.

With Chris Humphreys showing the class he had demonstrated all season, the bowling duo were almost unstoppable.

Bradley's opening burst of 3 for 15 off eleven overs was outstanding, while Chris Humphreys claimed six wickets, one of which heralded his 400th wicket for the club.

It left Denton in tatters at 43 for 9 with 31 overs of the match left.

As if to prove what a remarkable game cricket is, it took the Prestwich bowlers another 25 overs to grab the last wicket, during which number ten Andrew Neill batted quite splendidly for 54.

Duxbury eventually trapped Neill in front leg before wicket with the score on 101, earning Prestwich a five-point victory.

Alas, there was ultimately no light at the end of their tunnel.