Okay, it wasn’t November. And, okay, the winds were not quite hurricane force. But your reporter has only just unfrozen enough to be able to type this match summary and it was a night when the coach chose his player of the match based on who gave him their jumper for warmth when they were bowling…

Getting to the point and the game itself was a bit of a mismatch. Lightcliffe were good with the bat, better in the field but best with the ball on a night when Jonty secured a hat-trick, Ollie was unlucky not to get one, and Aidan, Jim and Dominic also struck to take wickets.

Blackley put the home side into bat which brought Dominic and Charlie to the crease – and a healthy 35 were added. The second pair of Ollie and Aidan added 48, then 21 for Theo and Raff and 12 for Freddie and Jim. The runs kept coming but Blackley’s performance in the field stopped the total going even higher, which was to their huge credit. The final pair of Jonty and Jack took the net total past 300 leaving the visitors with a pretty much insurmountable total of 332 (142/2).

The chase started decently for Blackley – while the run rate was always behind what was needed, they didn’t lose a wicket until the 9th over. But then they kept falling, including that 16th over hat-trick from Jonty – all bowled, all celebrated by the entire team. Seven wickets fell – as well as Jonty’s 3-2, there was Aidan’s 1-6, Ollie’s 2-1, Jim’s 1-4 and Dominic’s 1-2. Dominic spent the first 12 overs behind the wickets as keeper, duties taken over by Jack for the final 8 and both performed well, including a spectacular diving stop from Dom.

In the end, the visitors made a net score of 223 (63/8) after a brutal final few overs, but there was good cricket across the ground and the game and improvements for both sides, including Lightcliffe’s ever-improving U11s squad.

Thank you to everyone who came down to support and help run the night – and to Jonty not only for being a hat-trick hero but for keeping James warm with his jumper as standing umpire.