By Matt Harris
Mixed news for YPLN teams last week, as we had a couple of cracking cup finals, but sadly the excellent run of YPLN teams in external cups came to an end.
In the ECB National Club T20 York travelled to Burnmoor in the north east to play New Farnley CC in a 4-team play-off. In a rain-shortened 15-over match New Farnley put 134 runs on the board. Despite contributions from Will Fraine, Breidyn Schaper, Duncan Snell and Tom Brooks York couldn't quite reach the target.
In the ECB National T20 Plate Woodhouse Grange 2s travelled to play Morpeth CC. Strong batting contributions from Matthew and Lewis Ainley, as well as Clay Mulgrew, helped the visitors to a total of 102. Sadly Morpeth were able to claim the win in the final over, despite a 3-wicket haul from Tom Burdett.
Congratulations to both York and WG2s for making it to the national stages of these competitions.
In our own cups, two finals were held at Pickering CC, who did an excellent job as hosts and who the league thanks for their efforts.
The Championship Cup final saw Dunnington play Brandesburton, two excellent teams at or near the top of their respective divisions. Brandesburton have had the toughest route through the cup, having to defeat four opponents to get to the final, but cricket is cruel and it wasn't their day. Electing to bat first, they faced a strong bowling attack from Dunnington including 3 wickets for Cameron Hall. Ismatullah Zaland posted a valiant rearguard action with 32 runs but Dunnington ended up with a target of 107 to win. They achieved this thanks to 63 runs from player-of-the-match Irosh Samarasooriya and 37 from Jack Bolam, both not out. Congratulations to Dunnington on winning the cup.
The Division 3 Wilberfoss Trophy final saw Forge Valley (in their first year in YPLN) play Kelfield. Kelfield elected to field but Forge Valley proceeded to rack up 176 runs, thanks partly to 53 from Charlie Tindall and 43 from Charlie Ionascu. Kelfield responded strongly, with 32 runs from captain Craig Lawson and 31 from David Buckley but Forge Valley limited them to 140 after 20 overs, partly thanks to player-of-the-match Charlie Ionascu taking three wickets and two catches. Congratulations to Forge Valley, the first former Scarborough Beckett League club to reach a YPLN cup final, on taking the trophy back east with them.
In the only other cup match last week, Woodhouse Grange 3s made the long journey to Filey for their semi-final in the Division 2 Dave Conner Trophy, which turned out to be a thriller. 51 runs from Filey's Kieran Geyle helped them post a score of 121/8, despite a 3-fer from Grange's George Baty. In response Woodhouse Grange reached an identical score of 121/8 with one ball remaining (including a 48 from Lewis Ainley) and managed to scramble a run off that last ball to win the match.
This coming Sunday 10th sees the final of the U19 T20 Blast, with Clifton Alliance facing Beverley at Bilton-in-Ainsty CC, at 2pm. Definitely worth attending if you can, as these old rivals met in the 2024 final too, and Beverley will be looking for revenge.
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