Osterley were confirmed as champions of the Middlesex Championship on Saturday for the fourth successive season as their scheduled match was abandoned.

But having been denied promotion each year by the County League Committee, celebrations at Tentelow Lane were shrouded in suspense as they await their fate once more.

The club have gone to great lengths to improve their facilities and meet the requirements of the committee.

And club captain Asad Rizvi believes that they have done more than enough to be granted promotion.

He said: "Whatever they have asked us to do each year, we have fulfiled.

"Two years ago they said we needed two pitches, so we laid another pitch.

"Last year they wanted us to have colts teams - we now have five, including U9s, U13s and U15s."

It is not just with four successive titles that Osterley have shown their potential.

Last year they beat five County League Premier teams in a row to capture the County Cup, then continued their giant-killing run this season as they swept aside Orpington CC in the Evening Standard Challenge Trophy.

But the implications of yet another rejection from the County League are bleak for Osterley.

Rizvi said: "It will break us if we don't go up this season, because we don't know what more we can do.

Chairman Shaheen Rizvi added: "We have had no invitation to discuss the situation. In the past we were just told 'sorry, you're not going up'.

"We don't get a proper expla-nation, we just hear things. If we were told exactly what we needed to do to meet their standards - we would do it."

A County League spokesman said the committee will make its decision in about a month's time, and will not comment further before then.

IF OSTERLEY do win promotion, the ones to suffer will be neighbours Wycombe House, based just the other side of Osterley Park in Jersey Road.

House finished rock-bottom of the Middlesex County League after their final Division Three game of the season, against Bessborough, was washed out on Saturday.

If they are relegated, it would bring at an end House's eight-year stint in the County League since a third tier was introduced in 2000.

Skipper Carl Burdett said: "We have not heard anything from the league, so we will have to wait and see - but we are braced for relegation.

"We have played at the level below before, but it was some time ago. However, we should be strong enough to bounce back if we do go down.

"This season we have ben hit by a number of long-term key injuries, including original captain James Rodham, so it's not been a true reflection of our capabilities."