If you happened to be going past Birdlip and Brimpsfield Cricket Club on the evening of the final Saturday in August you may have heard a bit more noise than usual.

That’s because there was some sort of party at the club – “It went on into the early hours,” admitted chairman Ian Green – to celebrate not one team getting promoted but two.

The 1st XI made certain of the Gloucestershire County League Division Five title with a thumping win at Gloucester AIW Sports on 25th August, while the 2nd XI, who Green captains, won East Division One of the Cheltenham/Gloucester/Forest of Dean League on the same day.

“It’s the first time in the club’s history that we’ve won two league titles on the same day,” said Green with understandable pride.

And that wasn’t all because the club also finished runners-up in Division Two of the Gloucester Midweek League and will play in Division One next season.

For Green, a longstanding player who is in his first season as chairman, the campaign couldn’t have gone better.

“It’s not just the playing side, it’s the infrastructure,” he said. “We’ve got a strong team – the captain, the groundsman and the social side. The social side is so important, it helps to bring everything together.”

Green was too modest to mention his own role at the club, which also includes coaching the juniors as part of the Chance to Shine programme.

But the 49-year-old was certainly happy to champion the efforts of the two Saturday teams.

“We only lost three games all season between us,” he said. “The 1sts lost only one and the 2nds lost two.”

And in another season the 1sts may not have lost a game at all, as Green explains.

“It was against Sheepscombe and Bisley,” he said. “The match was played on the same day that England played Sweden in the World Cup. Everything was changed. The game started at 10.30 and it was 30 overs a side. We lost by four runs.”

Green, a batsman who used to play in the 1st XI, also hailed the togetherness between the 1st XI and 2nd XI, something that he has obviously played a big part in fostering and which helped the 1sts win 16 matches and the 2nds 13.

“It’s been an all-round effort,” he said. “We’ve performed on a consistent basis.”

The 1st XI, who ended the season being captained by George Smith after he took over from Sathya Prakash, typified that team spirit.

“Andy Downes scored a couple of centuries but we had seven or eight players score 50 or more,” added Green. “ That doesn’t normally happen, it’s usually down to two or three players. There’s quite a depth in the club.”

That depth will again be tested next season of course, so how far up the cricket pyramid does Green think the club can go?

“We played in Division One of the County League five seasons ago and we held our own for a couple of years,” he said. “The objective is for the 1st team to be in Division Two within the next five years and for the 2nd XI to be playing in the County League.”

For the 2nds to play in the County League they would need to win another promotion and Green would certainly like nothing more than to be part of another title-winning season.

“I think I’ve got another five seasons in me,” he said, “if my body allows it.”