Sunday morning is always one of the most calm and peaceful times to be at Till Carr Lane. Well, it is until St Matthew’s Church bells start their peeling. And until sound of the gunshots begins from the Norwood Green Shooting Range. And until 16 juniors take to the field with their encouragement and occasional sledge (not it has to be said from our young Villagers, James Horne has seen to that).

Amidst all of that, there was a cricket match - the third meeting between Lightcliffe and Moorlands U11s this season, the 873th meeting between the two clubs across the season (give or take).

The past two had gone the way of Lightcliffe - one league, one Cup, and the question was could it be three from three. You’ll have seen the title of this article, so I won’t keep the suspense. It could.

Captain Dominic lost the toss, which is probably a relief because he’d been in deep discussion with coach Gaz ‘4th XI catching supremo’ Landin about what to do if they’d win for several minutes pre flip of the coin. Moorlands decided to bowl and that brought George and Jonty to the crease to start the game.

Or it would have done if they would ever emerge from the changing room. Some frantic waving and gesturing followed (a signal of things to come in Gaz’s umpire signals to the scorer) and they finally made it for a display that certainly set the scoreboard racing.

25 for George and 11 for Jonty was followed by 24 for Ben, 7 for Albie, 11 for Jacob, 10 for Dougie, 19 for Dom and 19 for Jack. It was a positive batting display across the board with boundaries a plenty and some quality running. Mostly anyway. A few wickets fell - some from quality bowling, some from questionable running calls, but by the end of the 16 the net score was a very strong 122.

Your author and scorer had spent a lot of time discussing Yorkshire’s Vitality Blast quarter final calamity with Moorlands scorer who also happened to be one of the groundsman at the home of Yorkshire’s second most brilliant ground, Headingley. That was proof that any result is always possible in this sport. And so when the Lightcliffe eight returned to the field, they knew they would face a tough test - Moorlands always present that.

And they started very well. Their opening pair smashing boundaries, scoring well and well ahead of the run rate required.

A run out in the third over turned the tide, Jacob consolidated with a wicket in the fifth and Dougie added to the tally in the eighth. But it was the ninth when the game went out of reach as Dom’s spin left the batters baffled. Ball 4 saw one head straight to Jack - who has become one of those players as a bowler you want to see a shot heading towards - and it was taken.

Final ball of the over saw another one heading up high and straight back towards the bowler. Personally, I thought there was no chance anyone would be able to get it. I should have known better. Running backwards, peering into the sun, it was taken single handed by Dom. A spell which ended 2-4 from 2.

Add into the mix the determination of Jonty’s bowling, balls from Ben that make things happen and the ever-improving Albie, and then an excellent performance behind the stumps from George whose fast hands secured directly two wickets with a run out and a stumping, and it was a strong performance.

Sure, there were a few too many misfields and overthrows, a few too many boundaries not stopped that could have been, but the batting performance had given the bit of flex required to mean that, in the end, it didn’t prove decisive. Although I could see Gaz was making mental notes for next week’s training.

Moorlands scored 123 runs - which shows the quality they possess, but were six down by the end, meaning a net score of 103 and a win by 19 runs.

Lightcliffe now sit second in the Bradford U11s league table with one game to go - a trip to Adwalton next Sunday morning.

Thanks to Gaz for running the game while James played with old men in East Yorkshire and Neil had a lie in to ensure he had the mental strength to lead his band of 4ths in the afternoon. Thanks to Liz and Rachel for running the tearoom. And thanks to you for making it this far in the match report.