North Middlesex captain Joel Hughes has described his side’s Middlesex League Premier Division title win as a dream come true.
Hughes' side beat relegated Harrow St Marys on Saturday to secure a historic championship, the first time the club have won their current division.
The captain believes the club's faith in youngsters, such as Joe Cracknell, Luke Hollman and Max Harris, has been a big reason behind the success.
"It's so important. It's something I've been dreaming for about five or six years, since we got our first win in the Premier Division in 2013.
"I was thinking we could cope in the division and then the last couple of years I've been thinking we could win it.
"It's really incredible. To do it with six of our home grown lads is really special.
"Our committee have put time into the junior set up.
"We have some quality home grown players. We're hoping to bring the next generations through now."
Hughes accepts that the difficult thing now is for the club to keep hold of its young talents and has backed them to go on and play at a higher level.
He added: "I think that is the tricky thing. Luke, Joe and Max are just too good, we probably won't see a huge amount of them in the next few years.
"I've played with Joe since he was 15 and Luke since he was 16.
"It's incredible. To be a part of their careers is amazing and it's been really nice to see."
North Middlesex bowled Harrow St Marys out for 171 on Saturday, with Hollman and Liam O'Driscoll taking two wickets each.
Hollman followed up his bowling efforts by hitting 43 runs in bat, before James Parslow added 45.
Will Vanderspar (49 not out) and Tom Nicoll (27 not out) then helped their side to seal a crucial, title winning victory.
Speaking about the game, Hughes said: "I think we bowled pretty well. We know that the score there has usually been around 200.
"We knew anything above that would be hard to chase.
"At one point we were pretty nervy but showed our quality and experience.
"I was really pleased with how we bowled.
"The batters took their time and got themselves in."
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