Peterborough Town seal Northants Premier Division title to complete a dominant decade

Peterborough Town after winning the Northants Premier Division title.

Peterborough Town completed a dominant decade as they secured the Northants Premier Division title with an emphatic seven-wicket win over relegated Wollaston at Bretton Gate today (September 21).

The city side weren’t unduly troubled as they sought the handful of points to fight off the challenge of reigning champions Finedon.

In truth the 15-point gap between the top two flattered the runners-up as Town won 17 of their 22 matches compared to 15 wins for Finedon. Town also lost half as many games (2) as their closest rivals.

The title success completes a remarkable decade for Town who have not finished out of the top three since 2009. They’ve finished top four times, second four times and the third on two occasions in the last 10 years, although this was the first title since completing a hat-trick of top spots in 2014.

A 5-23 spell of off-spin bowling from Lewis Bruce ensured Wollaston collapsed from 75-3 to 109 all out today. Mohammed Danyaal (2-23) bowled well at the top of the innings.

Josh Smith (41) and David Clarke (31) batted best for Town who were home and dry in under 23 overs. Rob Sayer cracked the title-clinching boundary in his last innings for the club as he moves to Australia this winter.

Oundle finished fourth - their best finish since 2014 - despite losing their final fixture by seven wickets at Brixworth.

RESULTS

Saturday, September 21

NORTHANTS PREMIER DIVISION

BRIXWORTH beat OUNDLE TOWN by 7 wkts

Oundle 117 (T. Norman 25, L. Evans 5-41).

Brixworth 121-3 (T. Cowley 66no, T. Norman 2-36)

PETERBOROUGH TOWN beat WOLLASTON by 7 wkts

Wollaston 109 (L. Bruce 5-23, M. Danyaal 2-22).

Peterborough 113-3 (Josh Smith 41, D. Clarke 34).