MATTHEW Evans hailed his Newport Fugitives teammates as they landed the South East Wales League Division One title without a ball being bowled after their final-day clash with Newbridge was washed out, writes Ian Mitchelmore.

The Fugies held an 18-point lead over second-placed Chepstow ahead of the last round of fixtures – but rain wiped out the entire top-flight schedule to ensure Evans’ troops clinched the championship.

Captain Evans has been at the club since he was 11 and admitted it was a huge honour to lift the title 30 years on from starting out with the Fugies.

He said: “We’re all absolutely delighted. It’s been a terrific season for us.

“It was totally unexpected and it was something we never thought we’d achieve at the beginning of the season after gaining promotion the year before.

“There are a lot of tough teams in this division – Blackwood, Chepstow and Newbridge being just a few – they all pushed us really hard.

“We won at Blackwood in the last over of the game in July which was one of my highlights of the season. That win really gave us the belief that we could go on to do something special.

“I’ve been at this club since I was 11 so to win the league as captain 30 years later is incredible.

“It’s a huge honour to be captain of this club and I’ve been lucky to be part of a great team.”

Rain proved to be the only winner on the final day of the South East Wales League season as every fixture fell foul of the atrocious September weather.

The lack of action saw Chepstow, who were due to face Pontypridd, take the runner-up spot in the final standings, 12 points ahead of third-placed Newbridge.

Relegated Abergavenny and Radyr missed out in their bottom-of-the-table clash while Sudbrook and Usk were due to face Croesyceiliog and Blackwood respectively.

Meanwhile, Malpas won the Division Two title after second-placed Brecon were forced to call off their game against Ponthir.

The Gwent club end the 2016 season with 12 wins from their 18 league matches, with Brecon joining them in gaining promotion into the first division.

Ebbw Vale and Sully Centurions will both be playing in the third division next season after finishing in the bottom two.

Rogerstone Welfare ended the campaign in eighth to narrowly beat the drop.

Crumlin were left dancing in the rain as they took second place to seal promotion to Division Two after their clash with basement boys Llantwit Fardre was called off.

They go up along with champions Whitchurch-Heath, while Monmouth end the campaign in fourth place.

Monkswood finish the season in sixth having won seven of their league matches, but there was no such luck for Machen who were relegated after being unable to face Whitchurch-Heath in the final round of fixtures.

Chepstow already had the 2nd XI Division One title in the bag despite being forced to cancel their final game of the season at Pontypridd.

They finished comfortably clear of runners-up Sudbrook, while Newport Fugitives’ second string took third spot in the overall standings.