So near and yet so far as Chesham first XI fulfilled their part of the promotion requirement by handsomely beating Buckingham by 117 runs in the final Home Counties Division Two league match.

Unfortunately, Thame rather spoiled the party by beating new champions Aston Rowant and thus claiming the second promotion spot.

Batting first Chesham scored at a decent rate throughout beginning with an opening stand of 80 between Andy Goddard (76) and the consistent Matt Rance (40).

Luke Webb then fell for one of his very few lower scores (11) before Jason Rance (49) joined Goddard in a hard hit partnership of 85.

With the demise of both there followed a mini collapse before Pip France (42*) laid about him to good effect to enable Chesham to total 272/8 from the mandatory 50 overs.

Buckingham’s opening partnership was broken by Alex Watson followed by two wickets for Matt Warner (2/32). With the introduction of spin, wickets then fell regularly to Pip France (4/22) and the youthful Nouman Aslam (3/26) leading to the final dismissal with the total at 155.