Batting first having won the toss, there was good running between the wickets for Lightcliffe, as well as the odd four, but a regular loss of wickets meant the score only crept up slowly in the early stages. Thankfully, several well struck boundaries from the final two batting pairs, with Jack Crawshaw and Ollie Rose to the fore, meant a respectable 261 (96 for 7) was posted.

In reply, Friarmere struggled in the early stages as there were wickets for Noah Boshell, captain Nico Fletcher, and Ollie Webb, supported by some fine catching from Ollie Rose. As with Lightcliffe, there was more success for the later batting pairs, and, with 2 overs to go, 12 were needed for victory. Unfortunately for Lightcliffe, two no balls in these final overs that both went to the boundary were the moments on which the game finally swung decisively in the favour of the visitors, and there were smiles on the faces travelling back across the Pennines. Friarmere finished on 267 (97 for 6).

It was an exciting and enjoyable game with some nice moments across the team, but a look at the extras column tells the story of where it slipped away from Lightcliffe: 35 no balls and wides versus just 11 from Friarmere. On the positive side, there were very fine displays of wicket keeping from Isaac Thompson and Nico Fletcher, who between them did not concede a single bye, and some miserly bowling from Ben Smith who went for just 2 from his 2 overs and from the improving Theo Lewis who only went for 7 from 2.

Match Report from James Horne