Brewood title triumph

Brewood ended the Staffs Clubs season on a high as they beat second division side Wolverhampton Danes to claim the League Knockout trophy.

Chris Guest's men beat Danes by six wickets in the final over of the first ever league finals day at Himley.

And young batsman Joe Huxley proved to be Brewood's match-winner as he hit an unbeaten 68 to see them home.

Guest was also undefeated on 32 at the end after taking 2-35. Stuart Jeavons took 2-30 as Danes made 137 in their 15 eight-ball overs and Brewood then reached 141-4 off the first ball of their final over.

Guest said: "They did really well to get to the final from the second division and they played really well on the day.

"They got a good score but I thought we paced our reply really well and I always felt we were in decent control.

"It went down to the final over but we never really took any risks when we were batting and we kept wickets in hand so I was really pleased with our performance.

"Joe Huxley played extremely well to see us home."

Brewood's victory came at the end of a first ever finals day on which the first, second and third XI finals were all played at Himley.

Smethwick beat Old Wulfs to claim the third team trophy and Hammerwich claimed the second XI silverware with victory over Bloxwich before Brewood took centre stage.

And the victory offered some cheer to Guest's side after they missed out on second spot in the league to Wednesbury a day earlier.

But sides won but Wednesbury's 25-point vict-ory edged them ahead. Guest said: "It was a bit disappointing because Bre-wood haven't made the top two in quite a few years so it would have been nice to do it.

"We also felt with a bit more consistency we could have won the league, but Lichfield deserved to be champions.

"They won more games than anyone else and that tells the story. Overall we've had a good season finishing third and then winning the knockout."

The runners-up spot was the only live issue in the final day of fixtures on Saturday with Lichfield already crowned as champions and relegation places settled.

There were positive results all round as Hammerwich (243) beat Beacon (133) by 110 runs, Penkridge (115) beat Bloxwich (78) by 37 runs, Brewood (215-5) beat Cannock & Rugeley (212) by five wickets, Aldridge (167-5) beat Highcroft & Great Barr (165) by five wickets, Lichfield (220-1) beat Whittington (219-8) by nine wickets and Wednesbury (156) beat Milford Hall (146) by 10 runs.