Peterborough Town are one play-off final win away from a perfect season

Last weekend’s seven-wicket humbling of the once-powerful Finedon club took Town to the final of the Premier Division play-offs tomorrow (September 19, 11am) when they host Old Northamptonians in what should be a cracking 40-over contest.

ON’s, who beat Oundle Town in a much tighter semi-final at Milton Road, are the only team to have pushed David Clarke’s side all summer.

Indeed they looked nailed on to beat Town at Bretton Gate last month until youngsters Sulemain Saleem, Sam Jarvis and Scott Howard all batted beautifully to claim victory for their side in a high-scoring match.

But that day ONs were without star man Rob White, a former Northants first-class regular who cracked a brilliant 127 against Oundle.

“Rob is a class act,” Town skipper Clarke admitted. “But we are playing so well we are confident we can lift the cup.

“It should be a great game though between the two strongest sides in the competition and hopefully a big crowd will come down to watch.

“We’ve been very consistent this summer and we just need to maintain those standards for one more match.

“We were brilliant at Finedon last week. Mark Edwards and Jamie Smith bowled superbly at the start of the innings and Finedon never really recovered.”

Peterborough Town could retain their Rutland Division One title if they beat Oundle Town at Bretton Gate on Sunday (September 20, noon) and current leaders King’s Keys are beaten at Market Deeping.

Town are unfortunate not to be top now as they have won all five of their completed matches whereas King’s Keys have played seven times.

Town beat Uffington by 105 runs last weekend after an unbeaten ton from teenager Sulemain Saleem and excellent support from captain Alex Mitchell (70) and Kyle Medcalf (59) pushed them up to 302-4 in 40 overs.