We start at Northowram Fields where the non-development team took to the beautiful ground on a lovely sunny evening after winning the toss and deciding to field first. It set the scene for 20 overs when wickets tumbled. And tumbled. And, well, tumbled. But not immediately - though the bowling was tight it took until the 7th over for the first to fall. But when they did, they did in some style – Joey Powe brilliant with a hat-trick of wickets as he took 3-2 in 3 overs. George Standeven also had a triplet of dismissals (3-14), there were a couple for the ever-reliable George Horne (2-3) and the same for Isaac Thompson (2-7).

It was hard not to feel for the hosts when already 12 down, they were faced with a couple of overs at the death from a cricketer on Yorkshire’s emerging player programme. And, true to form, Ollie Wood’s first over included three wickets. One more was to follow as he ended with figures of 4-2. Not bad, not bad. And, it was all supported by Henry Butters behind the stumps with the quickest of hands.

73/16 was the total set – a net score of 193.

In reply, George H and Isaac came to the crease and it’s to Northowram’s immense credit that their heads were held high – and the old adage that you shouldn’t judge until both sides have batted seemed apt early on. A couple of wickets in the opening couple of overs gave pause for thought. But it was only a brief pause as then the task of adding runs and not losing wickets was taken up with aplomb.

George H, Isaac, Jonty Smaldon and Max Terry all hit boundaries. George S and Harry Wolfenden put in a great performance in the middle order making 27 runs between them, Leo Berry and Joey kept the scoreboard moving and then Henry and Ollie came in as the last pair. With the result not in doubt, they worked well together to add a further 20 and take the total runs to 122 with 7 wickets lost – a net score of 287.

It ended up being a win by 94 runs – and it came after news had come through of a similarly impressive performance for the development side at Bradshaw.

There, as pictured above, the team of young Villagers included U9 Evie Rose making her debut for the U11s, and doing so in some style. Setting a target of net 283 by scoring 103 for the loss of just 4 wickets, Lightcliffe’s bowling strength meant wickets column was nearly as changeable as at Northowram.

Dougie Landin took the first wicket in the third over, there then followed two in two balls for Jacob Wild and then Evie’s first U11 over included two wickets. The next four overs from Ellie Hardisty-Nichols, Rafferty Menday, Jack Jamieson and Ben Smith all included wickets, and with miserly spells across the board including from Hugo McElroy, the hosts just couldn’t get going.

They made 61 runs for the loss of 11 wickets – a net score of 206 and a win by 77 runs.

Added to the comprehensive victory in the Bradford League on Sunday morning at Till Carr Lane, it ended a stellar 36 hours for the U11s who are making their mark this season.

These matches involved 20 different young cricketers taking an incredible 36 wickets and scoring 364 runs. All in all, quite some achievement and one each and every member of our squad should be proud of.