Great & Little Tew celebrated being crowned Cherwell League champions at the Hawkwell House Hotel, Oxford - even though they didn't receive the Division 1 trophy.

“We have got it in spirit,” said Tew skipper Andy Harris after the presentations were made by guest speaker Jeremy Coney, the former New Zealand Test captain, in front of a crowd of around 160.

“It is just a great result,” continued Harris. “Everyone that has been involved in it. It is a kind of a culmination of the progression we have been making over the last five or six years.

“We have expanded to four teams and it all goes back to our youth programme.

“The average age is 20-22 and we have developed as a team so quickly and it is a real credit to the young guys we have got.

“I knew we had the ability. It has been a three-year goal of mine to win the league, so to win it after two years is quite memorable, and quite an achievement.”

Tew captured the title after putting together a brilliant eight-match winning streak to overhaul long-time leaders Horspath.

And Harris added: “Horspath were unbeaten and you can’t question that, but we won more games than them, and I suppose at the end of the day it is about winning games.

“We just have a great team spirit and never-say-die attitude, which comes through thick and thin.

“There was one game where we were bowled out for 107 by Great Brickhill, and then we bowled them out for 78. That epitomized the spirit that we have.”

Now Tew, who also won the Oxfordshire Under 17 Championship, can look forward to competing in the Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier League next year.

“Hopefully this is a building block,” added Harris. “We don’t want to be a team that goes up and comes back down again. We want to go up and stay there.

“It is not going to be an easy task as the likes of Shipton, Horspath and Buckingham have shown in previous years.”

Horley, in their first season in the league, were the other big winners on the night with a trophy treble.

Having won Divisions 5 and 9, they also picked up the Peter Baker Memorial Trophy for the club whose 1st and 2nd XI teams racked up the most aggregate points.

Stokenchurch’s Arshad Latif won the 1st batting award for the third year in a row with 832 runs, while Bicester & North Oxford’s Richard Simpson was the leading 1st XI bowler with 58 wickets.

The new umpires’ award went to Banbury’s Geoff Hawkins.

ROLL OF HONOUR

Div 1: Great & Little Tew. Div 2: Twyford. Div 3: Cropredy. Div 4: Horspath 2nd. Div 5: Horley. Div 6: Great Brickhill 2nd. Div 7: Bledlow 2nd. Div 8: Cublington 2nd. Div 9: Horley 2nd. Div 10: Witney Mills 2nd. 1st XI batting: A Latif (Stokenchurch) 832 runs. 1st XI bowling: R Simpson (Bicester & North Oxford) 58 wkts. 2nd XI batting: S Lyon (Twyford 2nd) 601 runs. 2nd XI bowling: G Dickinson (Wolverton 2nd) 55 wkts. 3rd/4th XI batting: G Holmes (Thame Tn 3rd) 462 runs. 3rd/4th XI bowling: S Wilson (Oxford Downs 3rd) 35 wkts. Peter Baker Memorial Trophy (1st & 2nd XI aggregate points): Horley. Umpires’ award: G Hawkins.