Thrilling climax to the local cricket season

Taunton St Andrews have been crowned champions of Premier One after a series of near misses in recent years.

They finished second in 2007 and 2006, and were fourth in 2005 and 2003.

This summer, in a closely- fought contest, Taunton claimed the top spot by 10 points ahead of Weston-super-Mare.

The Seasiders clinched their best ever league finish in style, skipper John Williams capping off a fantastic year with an unbeaten 72 to beat Glastonbury by seven wickets.

Downend and Knowle have been relegated to Premier Two. Downend struggled all season and had to wait until August 8 for their first win of the summer when they beat Knowle by four wickets.

Knowle, who go down after only one season in the top flight, looked safe at one point last month but fellow strugglers Bristol secured stunning wins over Corsham and Bath to climb out of the drop zone.

In Premier Two, Thornbury – leaders of the division going into the final weekend – missed out on both of the promotion places after a three-wicket defeat at Keynsham.

The South Gloucestershire outfit needed only eight points to claim promotion but they suffered a batting collapse against Keynsham.

Taunton and Taunton Deane finished first and second respectively.

Bristol West Indians, who were given a 24-point penalty before the start of the season, and Trowbridge went down.

Somerset sides dominated the higher echelons of the local leagues this summer and it was a tight finish for the top four sides in Bristol & Somerset.

Bridgwater's Ashcott & Shapwick were crowned champions and have clinched promotion 12 months after winning the Somerset title last year.

Ashcott finished on 16.07 average points ahead of Brislington (15.93), Clevedon (15.31) and Midsomer Norton (14.47).

Winterbourne and North Perrott were relegated.

In Bristol & North Somerset, Old Bristolians Westbury, based in North Somerset, won a title race that had gone to the wire.

Chipping Sodbury, who had to settle for second spot, looked to have the title all sewn up after an eight-match winning run but consecutive defeats to Bishopston and Bristolians opened up the championship race.

Frenchay also had an outside chance of booking a return to Bristol & Somerset but Bristolians never looked back after hitting top spot with two matches left.

Timsbury have been demoted but they went down with only 0.2 points separating themselves and second-from-bottom Shirehampton.

Twyford House booked a swift return to Bristol & North Somerset after only one summer in Bristol & District Senior Division. The Shirehampton side claimed the honours from the title-deciding clash against Pak Bristolians three weeks ago.

Bristolians, who finished second in 2008, had to settle for another near-miss after their campaign imploded in the final few weeks.

Last season's Division One champions Cleeve went down along with St Mary Redcliffe, who missed out on claiming survival by 0.01 average points behind Bristol Asians.

Phoenix West Indians won the Division One title and promotion back to the Senior Division after a two-year absence from the top flight.

Bristol Pakistanis have also been promoted after claiming the winner-takes-all final match of the season against Hanham, who had to settle for third.

Stoke Bishop, who suffered three consecutive relegations from Bristol & North Somerset in 2003, have bounced back to win promotion behind Division Two champions Bitton.

St George/Roman Glass and former Senior Division high fliers Carsons/Mangotsfield have been relegated. Carsons have been demoted for the third season in a row.

Lympsham and Pucklechurch finished first and second respectively to win promotion from Division Three, while Abbots Leigh and Bishop Sutton go down to the bottom tier.

New club Bristol Fighting Spirit clinched the Division Four title in their maiden summer, holding off second-placed and fellow promoted side Bohemians by 0.07 points.