Old Merchant Taylors’ suffered relegation to Thames Valley League Division Three after being held to a draw against Kidmore End.

Going into the season’s finale the team knew that their destiny was effectively out of their own hands, given the points deficit with relegation rivals Harefield Seconds. OMTs won the toss at the War Memorial Ground and elected to bat first, aiming for a 25-point win from the off.

OMTs lost Barney Close early but that was minor setback as just as in previous weeks, Nikhil Rawal (60) and Rehan Hassan (63) set about rebuilding the innings through some accomplished batting. Whilst wickets remained intact but the reality was scoring at the ground was slower than usual. Adam Brand (32) added some impetus with his usual clean-hitting but when he was dismissed OMTs were poised on 161 for three, somewhat short of the total they had initially aimed for.

Skipper Paul Marshall (25) contributed yet again with the bat, and in doing so moved beyond a personal milestone of more than 450 league runs for the season. A couple of late run outs in the final push for runs saw OMTs stutter at the death, with the home side ending on a modest 215 for six.

The hosts opened up their bowling response with the spin of the mercurial Hassan (four for 77) and young talent Aaran Amin (two for 42). The former in particular proved yet again how he is a force to be reckoned with at this level, taking top order Kidmore End scalps to see him to 48 league wickets for the season.

The result elsewhere meant OMTs, who had Kidmore on 162 for five, needed to win 25 points to stay up.

But try as they might OMTs just could not finish the job as the Kidmore lower order simply dug in. Bowlers were rotated and despite Armaan Mahmood taking a couple of wickets and moving him to 25 for the season, it just wasn’t to be.

Kidmore End agonisingly held on for the draw on 200 for eight as the young OMTs side were relegated back to Division Three.

In Division Six B, Old Merchant Taylors’ Seconds endured a disappointing finish to their season after an 88-run defeat to Windsor Thirds.

OMTs, who were unbeaten in six games, won the toss and elected to bowl. Skipper Andrew Wingfield seemed to have vindicated his decision with an early breakthrough, but that was as good as it got for the away side as the slow pitch flattened out.

Despite a sustained spell of accurate bowling from Drij Vyas, the hosts were able to accumulate runs as they declared on 240 for one off 43 overs.

OMTs were soon 14 for three. James Worthington then continued to entertain, hitting four sixes on his way to 44 in a partnership of 63 with Suhel Virmani (24).

However, once they both fell in quick succession, OMT slumped to 103 for eight. Only a late flourish from Wingfield (35 not out) and Ed Hikmet (24 off 18 balls) in a partnership of 48 at least saw OMTs pick up an extra couple of batting points as they were dismissed for 152.