Wanderers win to seal title

IT'S PKF Wanderers' title. The hybrid Pessimists-St Saviour's side sealed the Cable & Wireless Championship with a 12-run defeat of DHS St Pierre.

'We needed 12 points, but you can't win a match without gaining at least that many so we knew that we just had to win,' said captain, Dave Piesing.

He won the toss and decided to bat on a very new strip.

'We looked at the pitch that had been used for the CIKO final and there was no way we could have played on it, so a new one was cut. It was damp, a real pudding,' he said.

Batsmen needed to apply themselves and Wanderers responded excellently. Three of the top four hit half-centuries. Tim Duke initially was circumspect; he played the anchor role once Tim Belton had gone early.

Ben Driver came in at three and the two put on 117 for the second wicket at four an over. Duke completed his 50 off 87 balls with six boundaries. Driver reached his milestone off 81 balls. When the former fell to guest bowler Andre Austin, in came Richard Veillard for a knock of quality.

'Richard has been batting so well for the past few weeks,' said Piesing.

Allowing very few balls to go to waste, Veillard quickly got into his stride. He reached his 50 with his fourth boundary and was unbeaten at the close of the innings.

'To score 60 from 44 balls on that pitch was a great effort,' said Piesing.

Wickets quickly tumbled in the push for runs in the final few overs. St Pierre used eight bowlers; only Dave Hearse completed his full quota.

Phil Challenger and Spencer Noyon kept a pretty tight line and once dangerman Vince Kenny had gone, Wanderers enjoyed a period of pressure.

There was no Glenn Milnes to provide a solid base around whom the other batsmen could build. St Pierre drifted behind the run-rate in a seven-over period. There was nothing between the sides after 11 overs each; both were 34 for 1.

But while Wanderers moved steadily up to 70 for 1 from 18 overs, St Pierre had ground out just 50 for 3. That 20-run gap was still there at 25 and 30 overs. St Pierre worked hard, but they had left themselves too much to do and fell short.

'It was our worst fielding performance of the season. We dropped Justin Meades four times. We just got away with it,' said Piesing.

Meades' 40 and Justin Walker's unbeaten 61 threatened to pull the match St Pierre's way. And when Phil Cox quickly reached 20 Wanderers were worried.

Wanderers now face Jersey champions Sporting Club on Saturday 13 September. The only expected change to their line-up is Pierre Moody, missing on Sunday, in for the unavailable Ted Enevoldsen.