Prestwich CC second team celebrated winning the league title – with two games of the season left.
The side’s jittery four-wicket victory over Woodbank on Saturday gave them an unassailable lead at the top of the Lancashire County League second division.
It caps an excellent season for the side, who also finished runners-up in the Hulme Trophy.
Stephen Ritchie was the day’s destructive bowler with a superb return of 7 for 39 – including a hat-trick – as Woodbank fell to 77 all out.
But Prestwich found it tough going, but an unbeaten 28 from opener Adam Taylor guided them home.
The team, captained by Peter Lorenzini, will be presented with their league trophy in their final home game on Saturday against their nearest challengers Denton West.
Prestwich’s first team also had a highly-productive weekend when they defeated two top-four sides, Woodbank and Glossop.
Rain had caused Saturday’s clash at Woodbank to be delayed and resulted in a straightforward 20/20 affair.
Skipper Andy Bradley led the way with a fine haul of 5 for 24 in tandem with a excellent nine-over spell from Ryan Stanbury (2 for 32) which restricted the home side to 103 for 9.
Harry Dearden made a fluent 24 before Sam Holden produced a fine delivery to bowl him and Steve Dearden top scored with 27 but a mix-up saw him easily run out.
In reply, Prestwich were in a spot of trouble at 16 for 3, but Tom Gibson was the key man, hitting a solid 30 before he was bowled by Nick Kennedy. With Holden making 24, it was left to Ali Raza (21 not out) to see the team home, signposted with a six onto the clubhouse roof, and victory came shortly afterwards with 10 balls to spare.
Title-challenging Glossop visited The Heys on Sunday and found Prestwich again in imperious form.
Professional Carl Hey had an outstanding all-round game with his brisk 71 not out, followed up by 5 for 51 from 15 overs of left arm spin.
Batting first, Ryan Stanbury got the home side off to a rasping start with some brutish shots to the boundary, while James Wharmby played the ideal foil.
The pair put on 120 for the first wicket before Stanbury was bowled by Will Hargreaves for a hard-hitting 86 off 74 balls, with 11 fours and three sixes.
A mini-slump followed, as Wharmby holed out on the boundary, well caught by Joe Moss, for 32, and Prestwich dipped to 143 for 4, with 14 overs left.
But after a couple of circumspect overs, Hey and Raza then delivered a series of explosive strikes to and over the boundary.
Hey racked up 10 fours and two maximums in his unbeaten 65-ball innings while Raza made a spritely 36.
The imposing total of 251 for 5 was soon being reduced by the classy combination of Lee Dale and Dale Pennington.
They proved hard to budge, reaching 105 without loss, until the introduction of Tom Scott who, not for the first time this season, triggered the vital breakthrough.
Dale had made a well-constructed 49 but his legside glance got too high on the bat, and the ball was well clasped by the gloves of Wharmby who had to run 25 yards to pouch the skier.
Hey then struck twice, the second of which was the key wicket of Pennington. Hey produced a beast of a ball, which reared and flicked the gloves of the Glossop batsman for 54.
Moss played a fine knock of 46 and the experienced John Stopford made 19, but the run rate was spiralling into double figures as Hey grabbed three more wickets , and Glossop were left 26 runs short of the target, giving Prestwich a four-point victory.
The triumph was a fitting finale for 50-year-old Steve Orrell, who was making his last home appearance for the first team before hanging up his boots at the end of the season.
Prestwich travel to Denton West for their final game on Saturday still needing a win to secure a top-five place in the league. West’s failure to beat leaders Denton St Lawrence (DSL) on Sunday, and Glossop’s loss to Prestwich, meant DSL clinched the Lancashire County League title.
