There are some days when you’re reminded as cricket club volunteers why you put in so much time and effort day-in, day-out - Sunday morning was definitely one of them.

Blackley are a club with similar values to Lightcliffe - passionate about our sport, determined to give opportunities to all and playing cricket in good spirits, cheering on success whatever colour is being worn.

So when they suggested bringing 16 Under 9s for two games - the scheduled league fixture and a friendly to give as many young people as possible the chance to, U9 supremo Rob was delighted to quickly agree.

It meant we had 32 young cricketers on our main ground, the pitches surrounded by encouraging parents, grandparents, family and friends.

Every boundary was celebrated, every bowler’s wicket was applauded, every batter’s wicket was commiserated. By everybody, from both teams.

The two games were both won by Lightcliffe.

In the league fixture, Blackley won the toss and chose to field meaning Bodhi and Harry were first up and started the scoreboard moving with some good shots. Bertie and Luke stepped up the pressure in the second pair, while Bessie and Evie continued that with the third, and Theo and Nathan ended the innings well meaning Lightcliffe had made 102 runs for the loss of just two wickets in their 16 overs.

In reply, Blackley scored well but they also lost wickets. Luke (2-1), Theo (2-6), Bessie (1-15) and Bodhi (1-6) were the wicket takers but Bertie (0-3), Harry (0-16), Evie (0-18) and Nathan (0-18) all played an important part in restricting the visitors to 84/7 - a net score of 249, and a win by 43.

In the friendly, Jack and Boston both took two wickets as they restricted Blackley to 54 in their 16 innings while George H was the top scorer for the home side as every batter resisted the pressure meaning Lightcliffe only lost one wicket leaving them winners by 72 runs.

A lot of people to thank - the grounds team for preparing us two U9 pitches, Dave and Jon for umpiring, Nick and our U11 Dom for scoring, U13s Brodie and Ollie for pre-match warm ups, Alex for cleaning, preparing and helping run the pavilion and kitchen, and - of course - Rob, our leader and legend, for pulling it all together and making it happen.

I realise when someone says this it can sound a bit glib, but on Sunday it was absolutely true - a day when cricket was the real winner. We’ve already agreed to do the same when we face the return fixture at Blackley. We can’t wait.