Cestrians aim for national success

Sep 18 2009 The Journal

National Club Championship

CHESTER-le-Street take the field at the County Ground in Derby at 11am tomorrow for one of the most important games in their history.

They face Spencer CC from Earlsfield, West London in the final of the ECB National Club Championship, and they will have a healthy following of supporters with two coach loads of fans setting off at the crack of dawn to back them.

Chester will go into the game as favourites following their superb league championship success which saw them go through the NEPL season unbeaten and win the title by a street. Conversely, Spencer suffered ten defeats in their Surrey Championship campaign and were relegated after finishing bottom.

The Cestrians also have the undisputed king of this year’s whole competition in their ranks. Richard Waite, a formidable close-season signing from Stockton, has excelled in the tournament, being the country’s leading run-scorer by a mile, with 478 including two centuries.

And if he takes three wickets or more in the final he will also be the leading wicket-taker as he currently sits third with no Spencer player likely to overtake him.

The two key Surrey players to look out for are batsman Colin Ingram and bowler Jimmy Birt, the pair well ahead of any of their colleagues in the Surrey league.

The Cestrians’ Tony Birbeck naturally wished to play down the favourites tag ahead of the game, but is clear of the importance of the day to the club.

He said: “We’ve tried for so long to reach this final, with a couple of near misses in the last few years.

“Remember, we’ve always had the significant hurdle of trying to get past one of the best sides in the country (South Northumberland) each year in the early regional rounds, and to be there today means so much to the club.”

And there was some surprising team news on Tuesday night that lifted the spirits further. Chester had settled on their squad for the match but then skipper Quentin Hughes received a call from overseas – Alan Mustard had decided to cut short his family holiday and return in time to play.

Mustard had been discounted from their plans a couple of weeks ago following an injury to his ankle, coupled with the fact he was on holiday anyway. But the ankle has healed much quicker than anticipated, although there may be the need to do some additional healing with his partner once the game is out of the way!

Luke Evans is ineligible as he has played a couple of Pro40 matches for Durham, and Graeme Cessford misses out as he has already played for another team in the cup. Otherwise the team is at full strength.

CHESTER-LE-STREET (from): Quentin Hughes (capt), Simon Birtwisle, Andrew Smith, Richard Waite, Liam Simpson, Tony Birbeck, Andrew Tye, Andrew Bell, David Wilson, John Coxon, Alan Mustard, Wayne Ritzema, Tim Stonock.