With promotion secured, Reading knew they would clinch the title if they beat Cove on Saturday and Horspath failed to win against Shipton-Under-Wychwood.

It was a nervy affair for Hartley’s men - chasing 205 for victory - as they fell to 149-8 following a string of batting errors.

But a partership of 58 between Jack Beavan (38*) and Kashif Nasim (17*) ensured Reading did their job, the winnings runs coming in the last over courtesy of a Beaven maximum that was caught over the boundary by the Cove fielder.

Reading’s players were then left waiting to see if they’d done enough to be champions, which was confirmed when news filtered through that Horspath had been skittled for 174 in reply to Shipton’s 209.

And Hartley was a proud man when the news was confirmed, reflecting on it as a fitting end to a fantastic season.

“We’re really chuffed,” he beamed. “It’s taken a while but we’re back where we belong and in style.

“We were just concentrating on doing our job as we didn’t want to lose our game and our record in the limited overs games.

“It was a tense finish but an absolutely fantastic effort from Jack and Kashif and showed the strength in depth we have with the bat.

“There’s about eight people who believe they should be batting fifth or above so that’s encouraging and it’s great to see.”

He continued: “It’s been a good ending to a good season and we can’t wait for next season already. We’ve a lot of young players who’ll be even better in 2015 so we are all excited and really positive for it.

“At the end of the game I received a congratulatory text off the Horspath captain which was a really nice touch.”

On a glorious September afternoon, Cove skipper Andrew Short won the toss and elected to bat but his side couldn’t have suffered a worse start.

With the first ball of the game, Beavan (3-22) took the first of his three wickets to dismiss Cove opener Thomas Redhead for a golden duck.

Beaven then clean bowled James Taylor (1) shortly after but a solid partnership between Trent Keep (63) and Najeeb Malik (38) saw the visitors move to 111-2.

Hartley (2-35) broke the partnership when he dismissed Malik and Vinnie de Souza followed him back to the pavilion shortly after.

Short (44) stuck around to help drive Cove forward but the tail end was dismissed relatively comfortably to set Reading a target of 205 for victory.

Martin Andersson (68) was in superb form again and he helped push the hosts along with a fantastic individual knock as wickets fell around him.

A middle-order collapse saw Reading slump to 149-8, but the ninth-wicket parternship of Beavan and Nasim helped save the day.

The stand was slow and steady as they edged towards their total, leaving the hosts needing seven to win off the final over.

Craig Taylor (0-22) bowled a wide off the first delivery of the over, before a dot ball meant Beaven - on strike - needed six runs from five balls.

But the youngster took charge of the situation and attacked a loose delivery to try and clear the boundary.

A deep Cove fielder did catch the ball on the boundary but his momentum sent him tumbling over the rope and victory - and ultimately the title - was secured for Reading, who will play their cricket in the Home Counties Division One next summer.