Published: Thursday, 11th September, 2008 9:00am

Berkshire finally land title

by Anthony Smith

Comments (0) | Print | Email

BERKSHIRE ended a 55-year wait by winning the Minor Counties Championship in sensational style.

David Morris' men overcame horrendous weather at Falkland to wrap up a thrilling eight-wicket victory over Lincolnshire yesterday (Wednesday).

And champagne corks popped long into the night as the Royal County celebrated becoming kings of the Minor Counties circuit for the first time since 1953.

All-rounder Tom Lambert, a Berks regular for the last nine years, beamed: "We always back ourselves but to take 16 wickets in one day to win the thing is pretty amazing.

"There is tremendous spirit in the squad and, after coming this far, we never gave up hope.

"We haven't won this for more than 50 years and when I think of all the great Berkshire players over the years who never got to lift the trophy it makes me incredibly proud."

It was a mouth-watering battle between the cream of Minor Counties cricket as Western Division winners Berks met their Eastern Division counterparts.

The last time Berks won the division was in 1991, but the outright championship had eluded them for more than half a century.

Play was only possible on two of the four days with Sunday and Tuesday completely washed out.

But Berks were determined not to let their big chance slip away having already lost a Lord's final to Devon this season in the Minor Counties Cricket Association Knockout Trophy.

With 108 overs available on Monday, Berks made an imposing 358-6 off 90 overs, before reducing Lincs to 45-4 at the close of play.

Skipper Bjorn Mordt led the way with an unbeaten 100 off 158 balls, including 10 boundaries.

Dan Shilvock (82), Mitchell Stokes (48) and David Barnes (42) provided ample support.

Lincs were simply blown away by Berkshire's intensity and the hosts turned the screw late on Monday with four quick wickets.

But their hopes of victory looked slim when play was cancelled the following day.

However, when they returned yesterday (Wednesday) they wasted little time and shot out Lincs for a mere 105, with the superb Carl Crowe taking 6-42, while Richard Johnson and Lambert grabbed two wickets apiece.

That was enough to force the follow-on and Lincs responded with 311, leaving Berks 59 to win in 13 overs.

Once again Crowe was the hero with his 6-100 earning him outstanding match figures of 12-142.

And despite the loss of a couple of wickets, it was plain sailing from there as Steve Naylor (15no) and Craig Crowe (10no) struck the winning runs to complete a stunning success for the Royal County.

Lambert added: "We've come through some tough times to get where we are and this makes it all worth it. We have a great squad and I believe there is more success ahead of us."