STOKE Green captain Sukh Dhillon believes any winter signings will have to buy into his side’s “team ethic” when they play in Thames Valley League Division One for the first time next year.

The Division 2b champions – who secured a fourth consecutive promotion and won the league by a massive 90 points – rounded off their season with a 54-run win against Burnham 2nds last Saturday.

Saud Ahmed (74) and Saj Aziz (53) led Stoke Green to 199 all out, before prolific duo Aziz (5-77) and Zulfi Butt (5-68) spun Burnham out for 145.

And Dhillon reflected on a “fantastic season” by praising his team.

He gushed: “We had a sit down at the beginning of the season and thought only about survival.

“But, after we beat Burnham at home we thought we could win the league.

“With nine wins in a row we thought, hang on a minute, we can do this.

“Winning the league is something everyone at the club could not believe we had done.

“It is a fantastic achievement for the boys.” He added to win the league by such a huge margin was “unbelievable”, but thinks his side still has more to give.

He confessed: “The boys are still only performing at about 80 per cent.

“There is a lot of potential in the lads and we will get it out of them.

“There has been a lot of talk about our two spinners, but there is a lot more to come from the batsman.” Dhillon added that there are a lot of players keen to join his outfit for next year.

He revealed: “We have had a lot of local interest from players wanting to join us and we will pick and choose.

“There will be a few surprises next season, a few local skippers want to come and join us.

“Some players from other clubs want to come in, and that shows how vibrant the club is, but we have always said we will never change the team dramatically.” “That is because of me not wanting it, we are a team more than anything else,” he added.

“The core and team ethic is the most important thing.

“I have heard about ‘superstars’ at other clubs but they have not won anything.

“There has been a lot of people talk about our performance and that is down to how far we have come.” And Dhillon said he can not wait to see how his side fare in the top flight next season – and thanked a number of rival captains for sending well wishes at the end of the campaign.

He said: “We will go into next season exactly the same.

“To stay in Division One would be unbelievable.

“If you said a few years ago that we would be in Division One people would have laughed at you.

“The plan is to remain in the division and that depends on how we recruit in the winter.” He added it is far too soon to look at what would be an incredible fifth consecutive promotion and said: “We are happy with where we are and have a team meeting before every game to set targets.

“A lot of clubs have been impressed with our side.

“It will be a good challenge for the boys and we will work hard in the winter.” **PICK up a copy of the Observer, out every Friday, for all the latest sports news and action** **FOLLOW the Observer on Twitter at @Observer_sports**