Spencer skipper Neil Baker reckons history will judge 2009 as a success for the club, despite losing the National Knockout Cup final and suffering relegation from the Surrey Championship Premier Division.

Baker’s men fell 25-runs short of victory as Durham outfit Chester-le-Street Cricket Club triumphed at Derbyshire’s County Ground on Saturday, thanks to a man of the match display from captain Quentin Hughes - who hit 76 not out and took three wickets.

Spencer were relegated, along with Weybridge, on the final day of the league season, despite claiming notable scalps of Sunbury, Guildford and Malden Wanderers.

But Baker insists his players will have learnt from the experience and will be well equipped to mount a challenge to bounce back to the top flight at the first attempt.

“It is now only just starting to hit home that we won’t be a Premier Division team next season,” he said.

“Our younger players will have taken a huge amount out of the experience of being involved in this cup run and hopefully that can transfer to the league next year.

“When history judges us I think we will look back on 2009 as a major achievement for the club.

“I think we are good enough to be in the Premier league and have the basis of a good side. I’m not saying we’ll go straight back up, but we’ll be in a position to give it a good go.”

Jimmy Birt’s 3-17 helped restrict Chester-le-Street to 175 with Hughes playing the decisive innings to help his side put a score on the board having won the toss and elected to bat.

The captain (3-15) then claimed three wickets in the space of four runs to reduce Spencer to 32 for three, a position from which they never really recovered despite the best efforts of Baker (35) and Luke Billingham (35*).

“Our bowling and fielding unit performed really well. I don’t think the toss had anything to do with it because we probably would have fielded first anyway,” he added.

“We’ve got our best results chasing - which is always a bit tricky because of the added pressure. We thought that would be our best chance of winning, but unfortunately we just couldn’t get over the line.”