As in the previous three years Mitford's late chairman saw to it that the ground was bathed in sunshine and conditions were appropriate for good cricket and plenty of beer.

The competition started with two leagues of four in a round robin of five over-a-side games. In league one, a fresh Mitford side, aided by their early morning warm-up on their home ground, were unbeaten and progressed to the semi-finals along with runners-up Ulgham.

In league two, MitEx cruised through with Seaton Burn making up the quartet for the Semi Finals.

Both league winners lost in the semis, Ulgham won a close-fought battle with MitEx by one run, a flurry of fours by Mark Parish just failing to overhaul the target of 54.

In the second semi-final a rather lacklustre and somewhat inebriated Mitford side were comfortably beaten by Seaton Burn.

Seaton Burn posted a challenging target of 64, assisted by the wonky bowling of M Lees and S Lawson who appeared unsure what set of stumps to bowl at.

In reply, Mitford never threatened the total, so all returned to the beer tent, efficiently run by Richard Robinson, to refuel and watch the final.

In the 10 over-a-side final, Seaton Burn batted firs,t setting a target of 110.  Ulgham fell short by 18 runs despite lusty hitting from Horner who finished on 34.

Seaton Burn were deserved winners in a day of cricket that saw some 1507 runs scored in 15 games, with a massive 59 maximums over the rope.

The games ran to time and smoothly thanks to the organisation of chairman Mike Sharpe, the umpiring of Colin Crowe and Graham Potts, and the precise scoring of Bruce Filer.

All at Mitford Cricket Club would like to thank those who turned out to support the event, with special thanks to the wives, girlfriends, mothers and sisters, including Joan Crowe, Debbie Potts, Carolyn Lees and Mrs Barrakatt, who provided fine food.

The participating teams all contributed to a good-spirited event. All three kegs of lager were drained, raising a considerable amount of money for Leukaemia Research and Mitford Junior Cricket Development Fund.