At Till Carr Lane, it was the top of the table clash between the very good Outlane Omegas and the equally good home side – and it made for an absorbing contest on a night when the cricket started in bright sunshine and ended in chilly gloom with a heavy shower.

Captain Dom lost the toss and the visitors chose to bowl first on what proved to be a heavy, tricky pitch to bat on, a fact borne out by the fact every one of Lightcliffe’s 8 lost a wicket during their innings.

Ollie and Henry started strongly combining to secure three 4s and one 6 in their 24 balls. Jacob and Henry found it even tougher against some really strong bowling, as did Jack and Dom. It meant George and Isaac were eager to see the scoreboard advance as the final pair, and advance they did with some beautiful shots that brought the total to one shy of a century.

As ever though in this format, wickets were key and the loss of nine during the innings meant the net score set for Outlane to target was 254.

After the short break, Outlane took to the crease and Ollie was first up in the attack. Knowing how important claiming victims would be against a strong batting line-up, he struck in the first over claiming a first victim. Jack was second up, and continued the charge – a wicket in his third ball. Isaac was impressive behind the stumps, some brilliant grabs from some incredibly fast bowlers.

But despite all of that, Outlane then advanced - adding runs and ensuring this would be the tightest of contests. It took until the seventh over for another wicket to fall with George taking the third. Then over 11 came. Dom took the ball and hoped to bamboozle the batters with his off-spin. And bamboozle it did – ball 1, wicket; ball 3, wicket; ball 5, wicket; ball 6, wicket. 4-3 in one over, numbers which you suggest he will struggle to match in his cricket career.

It changed the game – an over that reduced the Outlane net score by 17 runs. And Dom wasn’t done. After a tight over from George, he returned, narrowly missing claiming a victim on the hat trick ball but securing his first 5-for in the fifth of the over thanks to a typically brilliant catch from Ollie.

Pegged back, it was still very possible for the visitors to win – and they came incredibly close. Ollie took a crucial ninth wicket, but some aggressive batting meant every result could still come in the last. It was Ollie back on for his third over and the last six balls, and he managed to suppress their big hitting securing a win by 5 runs.

It makes it four from four in the Halifax Junior Cricket League heading into the Spring Bank break.

Not far away, Lightcliffe’s developing Under 11s were in action at Southowram – and with a decisive result.

Batting first, Ben and Rafferty combined well to start the scoring, Jack and U9 Nathan – making his U11s debut – kept their wickets and continue to build, then Dougie and Joey kept up the pressure. Leo and Ellie continued to add runs and didn’t lose their wickets, while Ethan and Serhii ended brilliantly to take the total to 129/3 – a net score of 314.

Anything over 300 in pairs cricket is really hard to match, and so it proved as the hosts at Ashday Lane lost wickets across the 20 overs. And, as this report has previously said, wickets in this format are absolutely crucial. An outstanding 3-6 from 2 overs for Ethan, a crucial 2-6 from Raff, a great 1-5 from 2 for Joey, a strong 1-11 from Leo and a wicket-on-debut with 1-9 from Nathan. There were a further 4 wickets thanks to some impressive fielding with very few runs conceded by any bowler – Dougie, 0-5; Ellie 0-7; Serhii 0-9; Ben 0/9; Jack 0/9.

76/12 was the final score for Southowram – a net 216 and a 98 run victory.

In a league that’s all about learning and progressing, full credit to the home side for their spirit and never-say-die attitude, and congratulations to Lightcliffe’s young cricketers for performing so well and showing their potential.

Thank you to all our volunteer coaches, scorers and supporters at both games.

Full scorecard for the match v Outlane >>
Full scorecard for the match v Southowram >>