MAL clinched promotion to Division Two of the Middlesex Sunday Cricket League with a clinical display against Belmont & Edgware 1sts.

BECC skipper Ashley Connick elected to bat on a damp and green track but the decision backfired when he was trapped plumb in front by an inswinger from Mark Landau. Josh Burke picked up the second wicket - producing a snorter that clipped the top of Warren Averbuch's off stump.

The score was quickly 22-3 as Abrahams was caught behind by Russell Corin off Landau. Goodman and Kay produced a mini-revival with a partnership of 31 before Grant Traub snared the wicket of Goodman with his first ball, the batsmen beaten in the flight and being bowled for 27. Kay followed shortly afterwards, as a suicidal piece of running saw him unable to beat Mark Lazar's throw from the deep, Corin reacted sharply to whip off the bails one-handed.

The sixth wicket fell to a brilliant caught and bowled by Jon Begner as he plucked a full-blooded straight drive from Evans out of the air in his follow through. Traub then bowled Mayer and Begner rearranged Blasebalk's stumps. Traub ensured that BECC would not reach three figures as he nipped out the last two wickets to finish with 4-10 from 6.5 overs.

MAL found it equally hard to score fluently initially, and were quickly one down as Josh Begner was LBW to the impressive Averbuch for a duck. Landau and Corin rebuilt, but runs were hard to come by in the face of some tight bowling and a difficult wicket.

Corin was just finding some fluency, having struck a straight six off Averbuch, when he tried one big shot too many and was held in the deep by Connick off Evans. Landau (56) and Lazar took MAL to victory with a number of boundaries, and there was time for Landau to reach his half century before the target was reached.