Title joy for Peterborough Town as they see off ONs in NCL play-off final

Town produced a strong all-round team performance to beat rivals Old Northamptonians by 32 runs in the play-off final at Bretton Gate.

The Covid-19 pandemic had at one point threatened to wipe out the entire summer of cricket, but the NCL organisers did a great job to set up a truncated season followed by play-offs, and unbeaten Peterborough have once again come out on top.

Josh Smith starred with the bat as he hit a run-a-ball 62 to guide Town to 199 for four in their 40 overs after they had lost the toss.

Fellow opener Chris Milner hit 36 as the pair put on 66 for the first wicket, and there were then useful contributions from Lewis Bruce (33n0o, Sam Jarvis (27no) and David Clarke (21).

ONs then lost skipper Tom Hafil early as he was run out by Sam Jarvis, but the visitors recovered to 53 for one and they were looking in decent shape until Danny Mohammed claimed the crucial wicket of former Northants man Rob White for 27 from 30 balls.

That left ONs 62 for three and on the back foot, and despite 38 from middle order man Will Heathfield, they lost wickets at regular intervals and were eventually bowled out for 167 in the 38th over.

Mohammed ended with four for 26 from seven overs, and there were two wickets apiece for Bruce and Smith.