Brockhampton promoted to Birmingham Premier (From Hereford Times)

Brockhampton promoted to Birmingham Premier

8:00am Thursday 22nd September 2011 in Cricket By Richard Prime

BROCKHAMPTON have gained promotion to the Premier League of the Birmingham & District Cricket League after a winning draw with Evesham at The Parks.

But the rain-plagued clash was not without its moments of controversy.

Evesham, whose position at the foot of the table was long ago confirmed, did their best to make things awkward for the home side.

They declared their innings at 206-4, one ball short of completing their full allocation of 55 overs, to deny Brockhampton the prospect of gaining an extra bowling point.

Rain knocked almost two hours out of proceeding and news filtered through that third-placed Old Hill had, temporarily, moved into the promotion places by gaining 24 points with a win over Kenilworth Wardens.

Brockhampton were then left to score 120 and ensure that their innings reached the 25-over mark to gain the necessary points target.

An appeal against the deteriorating light by the fielding side prompted a prolonged consultation between the umpires and ratcheted up the tension even further.

But Henry Langford and Tom Austwick kept their cool in the gathering gloom to guide the villagers to their reduced target to start huge celebrations among a large crowd.

“That ranks right up there with all that I have achieved in my career,”

said coach Ed Price, who, during his own playing days, had known the heights of leading Kington to success in the Village Knock-out at Lord’s.

“There has been a lot of hard work from all the guys and it’s what they deserve.

“It’s great to see a Herefordshire side up there in the Premier Division and we’re going to give it a go and see what happens.

We will obviously try to stay as local as we can by using the local talent and trying to bring that on through the youth set-up.

“These are exciting times and there should be a special mention for Roy Wargen for giving us the opportunity to, first of all, attack this league from Division 3 and all the way up through and giving the team the support; it has been absolutely great.”

Wargen, the driving force behind the club for four decades, pronounced it as probably the best day of his life.

“It is an indescribable feeling; absolutely fantastic,”

he said.

“Brockhampton Cricket Club are playing Birmingham Premier League cricket – how good is that.

“It is an amazing feat for any club from Herefordshire and especially when you consider how many of our players are home-grown and have come through our youth system.

“Ed Price has been fantastic; what a difference he has made but Chris Boroughs is the real difference.

He has been fantastic for us - it’s what he has done which has put us where we are.”

Boroughs, with more than 650 runs and 55 wickets has, as in all of his previous four seasons with the villagers, been a key figure.

But the experienced allrounder was modest about his own role in Brockhampton’s success.

“It’s always nice to take wickets and score runs but the main thing is that we have strength in depth and we have shown that all the way through the years,”

said the Herefordshire skipper.

“It has not been a oneman show, there have been a number of different people holding their hands up at different times. That has been the key to our success.

“From where we were five years ago – in Division 1 of the Worcestershire County League – this is amazing.”

Unusually this season, the prolific Boroughs has not been at the head of the batting averages where local boy Henry Langford, with consistent performances through the campaign, has rattled up more than 700 runs.

“It’s a nice feeling to be at the top of the batting averages but it has been a team performance,” he said.

“All the batters have done well and that is how we have come to finish where we have.

“It’s a great day for Herefordshire cricket. It’s been a brilliant job by us and this has been a really good finish to the season.”

Langford’s cousin and coach Ed Price’s son, Owen Price, whose offspin bowling and decisive captaincy were also key features in the success, was overwhelmed with his side’s achievement.

“I am absolutely ecstatic,”

he said. “I can’t really explain it.

“There has been a lot of talk of the ifs and what-ifs of us getting promoted over the last couple of weeks and now it’s happened it’s not really sunk in yet.

“It is such an achievement and no-one can take it away from us. There are eight, nine, sometimes 10 guys from Herefordshire in the side – a few guys have come in and played one or two games for us – all local – and they have all played their part.

“It’s quite a statement for Herefordshire cricket.”