With a 32 point gap down to second place, the 1s knew Nantwich would have to at least match their result to keep the title race going into the last two games of the season. But with rain promised later in the day, there were no guarantees of a decisive result for either team.

Unlike our previous encounter with Neston, we were able to start on time, with the start time helpfully moved forwards to 11:30 for the rest of the season. Skipper Zak Rogers chose to bat first when he won the toss on a nice looking pitch, clearly deciding he didn't fancy the risk of Dids completely batting them out of the game in the first innings. Alex responded with a fantastic opening spell, finding the perfect length for the pitch, and picking up 2-16 off 6. Guy Bradshaw nicked a cut shot to Rob at second slip, and from then on Alex utterly worked over the dangerous Dave Hurst. Bowling nine balls in a row at him, he drew four plays and misses in the first seven balls, followed by a edge that dropped short, before finally nicking him off for a duck, and a crucial wicket. Meanwhile, Sam had taken a really sharp chance standing up, overseas Bryce Jose nicking a cut shot off Liam, and Neston found themselves reeling at 20-3.

Rogers and their other overseas Maritz stabilised for a period, adding 32 runs in 7 overs. However, Nick brought himself on and drew an edge from Maritz, a big wicket given his ton in the reverse fixture. A calamitous run-out then followed, and 52-3 became 52-5. Wickets continued to fall as the 1s made solid progress through the Neston batting order, and despite Ben Beaver playing a useful innings, Neston finished on 121 all out off just 31.4 overs. Given the forecast it was so important to wrap the Neston innings up quickly, 2-21 from Will and 3-1 off 2.4 for Nick certainly helped.

Over at Nantwich, their match against Alderley had followed much the same script; AE 138 all out off 30.5 overs, and with how effective Nantwich's top 4 have been since the arrival of their overseas Yash Pednekar, no one at Dids expected to be doing much celebrating at the end of the day.

During the tea break, the threat of rain suddenly became very apparent as dark clouds made their way over the ground. Due to the slightly weird rain rules, 20 overs would constitute a game, decided by DLS if necessary. And with the rain coming in Dids would have only two options, try chasing it as quickly as possible and risk a collapse, or hope they made it to 20 overs before the rain came in (the DLS target being 41). They opted for the latter.

Dids started ticking along nicely, 27 coming off the first 4 overs before Tom nicked behind for 11. Albeit buoyed by an early wicket, Neston knew their main chance of significant points from the match was an abandonment, and were playing the delay game. Every new over brought discussions about fielding position changes, but all Tim and Chris could do was try to ignore it and continue pressing on to the target.

One thing that couldn't be ignored though was the Nantwich score; 40-6, Chris Sanders and Dan Fesmer ripping through their top order, and leaving their vulnerable lower order completely open.

Dids had almost reached halfway in the 11th over (and most importantly way past the 41 they would need at 20 overs) when Chris was bowled off the inside edge, but it was now raining pretty consistently. A chat between the umpires and they decided to stay on. The ground was pretty gusty and hopefully it would just blow through. Additionally, it took Neston a whole hour to bowl their first 13 overs, which may also have held some weight in that decision. Tim continued to attack, hitting 6 boundaries in his crucial 40 runs, before he was also bowled off the inside edge, with the score 84-3 off 16.4, and the rain still falling. This brought Nick in to join Rob, and he decided to try something rather unconventional. Instead of trying to blaze the remaining runs in an over or two, in the process losing a few balls and in turn lose more precious time, he just patted the ball straight back to the bowler to waste no time getting through the overs. And it was weirdly effective, although resulted in some rather bizarre cricket, including blocking a ball going for a leg-side wide that he normally would have put onto the roof of Khandoker's. However, they made it to 20 overs and needing just another 29 runs, the rest of the chase was pretty routine - minus Rob somehow holing out to deep square leg three balls later. Meanwhile news filtered through that Nantwich were 9 down still needing 60 runs, and it was now just a matter of time; would Alderley or Dids win their match first?

It turned out to be Alderley, as the last wicket was taken with Dids needing 5 to win. A couple of singles brought Nick back on strike, and of course it had to be him to hit the winning runs, drive straight down the ground for 4 to finish the game, and cap off an incredible league season.

It was a rather fitting match to win the league with, a complete performance with bat, ball and in the field, showcasing how we've been indisputably the best team in Cheshire this year.
And it doesn't stop there. In the final game in 2022, we bowled Alderley out for 123 and chased it 4 down in 24.3 overs. In the league winning match in 2025, we bowled Neston out for 121 and chased it 4 down in 24.4 overs.

The 1s now have two matches remaining which still hold a huge amount of weight, playing relegation rivals Bowdon and Widnes. These may feel like dead rubbers, but there is still plenty to play for. Should they win both these matches they would finish on 410 points. Although this would not rival our record 445 points in 2022, there are fewer points available this season, and so would secure the highest percentage of available points scored (84.7%) in Cheshire Prem history. Additionally, the 1s have won all 9 of the pink ball league matches they have played this year, so would love to keep that record going to the end of the season.
And of course, there is the additional incentive of the Cheshire Cup Final next Sunday against Lindow, so it's important to keep the form up until after that. And if that isn't enough incentive, the 1s go into that match with the chance to become the first Cheshire League and Cup double winners since Chester in 2017.