Also well done to Roger Troughton who scored 7.5 on the target bowls, a great feat. He pipped Billy Moulton-Day, who had just finished playing for Essex Seconds, and showed the great Sudbury club man that he is by coming straight to the bowls club.
Billy did well, taking one for 34 off eight overs, doing enough for another game with Essex 2nds against Kent before the end of the season – brilliant news from the young Talbot, who has had another good year for the club between duties at Lord's.

Saturday was one of the most memorable days down the club for a long time. We lost to Mildenhall and didn't retain the league title, but I thought it was one of the best performances of the season.

At 62-5 some people questioned whether the game would last until the bar opened at 3pm. But people didn't reckon on the new-look Sudbury. We need to thank Guy Robins for attracting new players to the club on his scouting missions.

Ollie Taylor, recovered after his injury in Cricket Week, looked superb hitting 45, and is already catching the eye of Suffolk scouts. Joe Barnett, making his home debut, took 5-74, and Will Shropshire coming of age and showing all he is quite capable of putting scores together in division one.

On Saturday the first team had seven players aged 25 or younger, and we took Mildenhall to within two balls of victory.

Adam Mansfield was behind the stumps, Tom Lockwood opened the bowling, Ben Barnett wasin the covers, and Ben Reece ran his socks off... and that's with Billy Moulton-Day not available down at Lord's. I think the future of the club looks stronger than ever and already we can't wait for next season.

From 62-5 Will and Ollie took it to 144-5 and had Mildenhall on the rack. Will went for 34 and Ollie for 45. Adam Mansfield hit a nice 12 not out and Steve Witham hit an entertaining 23.

The total of 196 was probably about 20 runs short, and Mildenhall got
them with two balls and three wickets to spare. A great game, a great day and Mildenhall had to settle for runners-up in the league.

Congratulations to Halstead on their league win. The table doesn't lie, and they have been the most consistent team all season. Also good luck to them in the Premier League. It's good to see clubs going up and giving the Premier League a go.

So the end of the match saw the end of Steve Witham's reign as first team captain. Two great years, winning the league title and taking the second season all the way to the last game. People forget he did three years skippering the seconds with two promotions and kept the side in division three, making him arguably one of our most successful skippers.

He had respect from all the club and all players and we all thank him for his efforts. He can now spend a bit more time with family and just turn up and play. I think Steve will have a cracking season next year. The great thing is we have people lining up wanting to take over, which is always the sign of a healthy club.

Guy Robins broke a rib in a midweek match, so he was scoring for the first team. He is a good club man, helping out in many areas. This meant that Eddie Holt took the second team to Clacton. I think the average age of the seconds was about 15, which again is brilliant.

They went down by 42 runs but capped off a great second half of the season to finish fifth. Eddie led from the front and showed maturity in his great knock of 89, a skipper's innings. Sudbury's 178 was 42 runs short of the Clacton total.

But there was a great performance from Jack Backler posting his personel best division four figures of 5-46 off 11 overs. J French 2-44 and Ollie Mills 2-42. Great work lads. This was a good performance and bodes well for the future.

The result of Saturday came from division 9 and Andy Holness' side who won by eight wickets over Maldon IV at Acton. The club is grateful to Acton, Melford, Cavendish and Coggeshall all for helping us out and letting us use their ground for games this season.

Maldon scored 216. Grandad Ivan Whitehart, Martyn Waterfall and Roger Troughton were the pick of the bowlers. Andy Holness hit 55 and Chris Titterington was the star of the show with 89 not out, a top performance.

It's been a great season with a top five finish possible, and with rumoured league restructuring, it could be a promotion season. Something to sharpen the mind for Saturday's match at Haverhill. Well done Andy and all for a great season.

So on to Sunday. Will Shropshire cemented himself as the second highest run scorer in the club. I don't remember a better season for Will. This weekend he upped his game and hit 89 to help defeat Woolpit and keep our division one status in the Hunts County Bats League, bar a disaster.

It was a superb knock, bringing him to 693 runs for the season at an average of 35, a contender for player of the season along with Simmo and Cookie. There is still time left for Will to get to over 800.

Peter Siegert is desperate that Will does not get more runs than him this season, and gave Will out on 89. Pete gave Nathan Poole out stumped and is now know as the Triggernator (something to do with Only Fools and Horses I think).

Great to see James Smith 32. We have missed Smithy on Saturdays and I do hope he comes back next year. He also took 4-25 to secure the win, and Jack Backler 3-35 to top a great weekend for him.

Well done Chris Powell also. Chris has done a fine job over the years, securing our division one status after successive promotion years. Sundays can be tough with availability. Chris is also hanging up his captaincy boots this year after five years in charge.

Roger Troughton's Division C side couldn't make it two wins on Sunday, falling 48 runs short chasing 198. There was a great knock from James Poulson hitting his debut senior 50.

Being chairman is a tough enough time-consuming job without having to skipper the division C side. After seven years, Roger is putting down his captaincy telephone that is always red hot trying to secure players. A mammoth amount of effort has been put in by Roger.

Special mention also to Phil Halliday. Phil is stepping down as club secretary after many years in the position. Running the youth section and secretary is also a big job. He works tirelessly at the club, and is also a great dancer – I watched him on Saturday night.

And no it's not a big club clearout, people have done their bit for many years in various positions and change is always good and fresh faces in fresh positions makes a happy club go round.

It's been a tough season for me also on and off the pitch, and the club have been a great help and focus. I plan to come back fitter than ever next year with my new Achilles tendon and score a load of runs and take a catch or two.

So on that theme that leads me to retire from Louis the Lip, After seven seasons and 126 editions it's time to watch my soaps in peace on a Monday night. It's been fun, and I've enjoyed every minute. Thanks for the emails and letters I have had from people and for reading the column.

Thanks to my dad and Anna for all their support also. Shame my mum couldn't read the last one, but that's life and we must all crack on.
The Lips has achieved all it wanted to to get news of Sudbury cricket club to the people around, and good to see other clubs have the followed the lead to try to get people reading about cricket.

In those seven seasons there has been plenty to write about. We have had many titles (especially 2004), many promotions, relegation, dinner in the Long Room, Ashes victory, characters, incidents and so much fun and happiness.

But the season hasn't finished yet. We still have the players' dinner and also two games this weekend at Friars Street with Harwich on Saturday and Twinstead on Sunday, with Hunts County Bats side making the trip to Lakenheath away. So make sure you come down for the last weekend of cricket at Friars Street this season..

Good luck to all, and see you around.