LED by old pro Phil Edwards, Leigh CC third team sealed the First Division North East title and promotion to the Premier Division with a resounding thumping of Norley Hall on Sunday.

For nearly 20 years, Edwards has professionally, skilfully, with loyalty, dedication, late hours, hundreds of phone calls, reassuringly managed and skippered more than 100 or juniors finding their way in the senior game for the first time.

Fitting that the captain should land a Liverpool Competition winners’ medal.

A season that started with a draw and two defeats, gave little hint of what lay ahead. None of these early results were down to poor performance, indeed all were hard-fought and fairly tight games, but the two convincing victories that followed were the games which really laid the foundations for the rest of the season.

The team went on to lose only two more games, finishing with six victories from the last seven matches, including a final run of four straight wins.

Closing a gap which had been 58 points in mid-August, Leigh sealed the title by two points from a Wigan team who had completed all their fixtures several weeks earlier.

At moments in the two penultimate fixtures, all prospects of the title seemed to be receding as the side struggled with the bat in chasing modest totals, having earlier bowled and fielded superbly to restrict the opposition.

But in the end, the undoubted talent in the side shone through, ending the season with a resounding victory in the sun at Beech Walk, well into September.

Lewis Bailey, Cameron Foster and Alex Seddon topped the run-scoring, with regular contributions from several others.

Two centurions both achieved this feat unbeaten – Seddon with 151 not out and Ryan Housley 115 not out, both against Highfield but in separate matches.

With the ball, Seddon, Chris Melia and Ben Smith were top wicket takers, with great support on a regular basis from Andrew Bradshaw, Kevin Robinson, Tim Edwards and Lewis Dove.

The key to the season’s success was a good strike rate balanced with economy, a combination which these bowlers used to excellent effect.

Kevin Robinson set a consistently high standard in the field, which the younger players more than lived up to.