Skipper Lloyd hails a first national title for Wellington

The title, which they won at the Derbyshire County Ground on Sunday after beating Old Elizabethans by five wickets, saw them win their third trophy of the season and the club’s first-ever national competition.

Lloyd said: “It was a real nice day for everyone involved in the club. It shows the strength of the club.

“I think we took the best part of 120 fans with us as well.

“Old Elizabethans won the toss and had a bat, they started well but the pitch was a little bit slow and it nibbled a bit for seamers with a little bit of spin on show as well.

“It was hard to hit the ball and we really squeezed them with our spinners and they found it quite hard.

“It is a big playing area at Derby, and in the chase, we started pretty well but we lost a few wickets and every time we seemed to get going we lost another one.

“There were a few nerves but I didn’t really feel like we were going to lose at any point, but when we did win you could feel the tensions and emotions lifted.”

Earlier in the year, they won the Meadons Premier 100 trophy, and they have also been crowned Shropshire County League champions which now sees them participating in the Birmingham League play-offs.

So they have got used to celebrating silverware, and Lloyd says the moment they won the trophy was fairly subdued.

He said: “The celebrations were pretty low key but you could see the batters in the middle were really pleased.

“We had a dinner the night before and the opposition were nice lads who were quite entertaining and in good spirits. We enjoyed the weekend.

“As much as winning games like that is a great feeling there is always someone on the other side of the result and you have to feel for them and it is not nice that someone has to lose.”

It was a busy weekend of cricket for Wellington as they also played their first match of three in the Birmingham League play-offs on the Saturday before the final in Derbyshire the next day. They took on Worcestershire-based Old Hill but lost by five wickets after being bowled out for 127 in their first innings.

William Mashinge top-scored with 49, but he was lacking support – with Hugh Morris (2-12), Daniel Lloyd (2-28) and Wendell Wagner (1-47) sharing Old Hill’s five wickets between them in reply.

Wellington now play Olton & West Warwicks this weekend at a neutral venue of West Bromwich Dartmouth before concluding their play-off campaign on Sunday by welcoming Milford Hall.