HARWICH and Dovercourt Cricket Club won their relegation shootout at Great Bromley.

They triumphed by eight wickets to ensure another season in division five of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship.

Bromley's skipper won the toss and surprised the visitors by opting to bat first, to try to get early runs on the board.

Once again, Harwich's opening bowling partnership of Steve Bushell and Jamie King made an early breakthrough, with opener Codie Simpson holing out to Nev Mathur off King.

King then picked up the key wicket of Elliot Mann, the top scorer throughout the league this season, for 11.

This was thanks to another great one-handed catch from keeper Richie Bushell.

Adam Cuthbert held firm for the hosts but Steve Bushell and then Adeel Abbas, back for the final game of the season, ripped through the other Bromley batsmen.

Bushell, in particular, was getting the ball to swing everywhere and finished with figures of five for 44.

Abbas finished with three for 23 and King two for 34.

Cuthbert top-scored with 45.

Season top-scorer Brandon Carter and Mark Barwood opened the batting for Harwich and found the boundary straight away.

Carter was then lbw for eight and Barwood caught on 18, which brought Steve Bushell and Abbas to the crease.

Like so many times this season, these two batsmen steadied the ship and saw Harwich through without any further loss.

They won by eight wickets and confirmed another season in division five.

Sadly for the hosts, the result meant they got relegated by one point and must be ruing the choice to bat first.

Harwich wish to thank those who came over to support them and for the support they received throughout the year.

It was a tough season but they can now regroup over the winter and aim for improvement next season.

Their top scorers were Carter (571, with an average of 31.7), Steve Bushell (436, 48.4) and Abbas (419, 32.2), while their top wicket-takers were Steve Bushell (33, at an average of 19.9), Abbas (31, 19.4) and King (18, 40.3).

Harwich's top catcher was Richie Bushell, who held nine catches and took one run-out.