We batted first and our own Aussie Freddie Flintoff, Andy Downs, smacked 70no at no 6, steering us to a respectable 213.  So far so good, but sadly not enough: Ottershaw chased it down for 2 wickets in 40 overs and half way through AD broke his hand in the field.  He was out for most the season and his bowling in particular was sorely missed as we found ourselves struggling to take wickets in a much tougher league and, for the first time in many a year, short of players on occasion.

We came through it in the end but it was a close run thing.  Having won well at Merton early season we struggled thereafter.  Crucially though we won three other key matches against fellow strugglers in June and early July.  Then on the penultimate Saturday of the season an extraordinary last minute victory at Banstead saved us.  It was an amazing game: both teams were in the relegation zone and the defeated team would go down.  We chased an achievable 209-6 slowly and were badly behind the run rate most the afternoon.  But an amazing knock from Iain Axon (79no) who kept in then found his touch later, ably supported by Downsy (42) then Ben Presland (23 off 11 balls) brought us back from the dead.  An incredible 70-odds runs came off the last 5 overs.  And even when it looked like we were home with only 4 runs required off the last over, the new batsman on strike couldn't connect and it took runs off a wide (3) to bring us back from the dead a second time and rack up the winning runs on the second to last ball.  We lived to fight another day and picked up the final 4 points we required to stay up in a very strong final showing against the champs Morden; Banstead went down.

Still, we've been wanting competitive cricket every week for years and now we've found it.

Iain, who finished 2009 in the form of his life, also deserves plaudits for his 103no in the second most extraordinary game most of us have played in: the 660+ run slogathon against Addington where the Village made 298 chasing a score of 365.  Keith also made a ton (101) that day - the only two the club scored all season - but Addington's Gurinder Singh broke the league record, making an unbeaten 270.  Ouch.

Stats: Sid Harripersad was the leading wicket taker, taking 19 including a 5-46 against Park Hill, a fabulous effort. Five-fers are a rare bird indeed in the form of cricket we now play and we saw 2 in 2009: Mike Moran racked up his first in decades, 5-38 against the champs Morden on the last day of the season meaning he tied with Neil as second leading wicket taker - 14.   Our senior pro also scored the most runs for the nth season: 575 at an average of 41.07, top of the averages.

Finally we said farewell to Tim Kernutt, a great batsman and a great bloke, whose visa expired at the end of the season.  Tim returns to his native Oz with our very best wishes having bagged 1,144 runs for the Village at an average of 47.67 over three seasons from 2007 to 2009, and almost all of them in the most entertaining of fashion.  His 161 of 94 balls against Sutton Telecom in 2008 was most people's favourite TK maximum.  Mate: it was a pleasure.