Winning the toss, Lightcliffe 2nd XI skipper Rob Burton was not to regret his decision to take first use of the facilities as The Villagers arguably produced arguably their best batting display of the summer.
It may be the twilight of the summer season 2024 but veteran opener Mikey Brooke gave further evidence that he is surely not entering the twilight of his career. Following his serene 78 against Gomersal a fortnight ago and an elegant 80 scored in the most hostile of environments at Yeadon the previous Saturday, Mikey made a fabulous 58 against a Bees attack which was chasing the title with league leaders Yeadon only 4 points ahead.

Brooke's 58 included 9 fours as he featured in an opening partnership of 51 with Under 15 skipper Isaac M who made 24 and a 2nd wicket partnership of 70 with 13 year old Lucas A who contributed 22. Brooke departed with the score on 130 for 3 after 34.3 overs.
David Knight Joined 14 year old Monty R at the crease and the former skipper drilled the ball to all parts of LCC. His 50 came up in the 39th over off only 23 deliveries with a 6 off County Age Group leg spinner Hussain whose over went for 20 including another 6 and a 4. He then hit three 6s off consecutive balls in the 42nd over which went for 22 runs off the younger Swallow brother James. However, Swallow gained his revenge with the first delivery of the 44th over as Knight was caught for 70 off just 30 deliveries. His innings contained six 6s and six 4s in a partnership of 85 and for our younger readers his trike rate was an incredible 233.33
Thereafter the pace of the innings slowed considerably until the final over when Monty, who had earlier taken as many singles as possible to get Knight on strike, hit three 4s to finish on 39 not out as Lightcliffe totalled 251 for 5.

After another excellent LCC tea, the Bs reply was punctuated by a wicket to Burton plus a brace to off spinner Marcus Kelly including bowling Swallow who had amde a run a ball 42. When Leo ran out the elder Swallow brother, the visitors were 91 for 4. Bs veteran Warren Allitt then played 2nd fiddle to youngster George Heartfield as the pair added 98 before returning opening bowler , 16 year old Oliver B, beat Allitt's defences to knock back leg stump. From 189 for 5, wickets tumbled fairly regularly including the key dismissal of Heartfield who was deceived in the flight by Sam W's leg spin for a powerful 93 which included twelve 4s and three 6s. Sam picked up two further victims, both lbw, whilst 17 year old Leo claimed another run out before his left arm finger spin sealed victory by 24 runs with 3 overs to go.
478 runs were scored in a fantastic 2nd XI match which helped Lightcliffe forget about their most unenjoyable visit to Yeadon the previous weekend.

Crossflatts 103 all out; Lightcliffe 105 for 4 - scorecard via the link below:
https://bradfordcl.play-cricket.com/website/results/6080542
Watch Waqas and Andy bowl Crossflatts out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iq53wpK__s

The 1st XI also produced their best display of the season to defeat table topping Crossflatts.
Pakistani professional Waqas Ahmed claimed 6 wickets with vice captain Andy Walker matching son Sam's effort with 3 of his own. Openers Jordan Laban with 53 and Rhys Jowett with 33 ensured that despite the loss of 3 wickets with the score on 101 Lightcliffe secured a comfortable victory.

Editor - The 2nd XI visit to Yeadon has been mentioned briefly above. It was a most unenjoyable watch, despite there being some excellent 2nd XI cricket played.
LCC President John Brooke left Yeadon early last week, unable to listen any further to the incessant sledging from some of the Yeadon team. Rather than controlling his team, sadly the Yeadon skipper led the verbal tirade. Unfortunately our retired umpire Rod, completely unconnected to LCC apart from being our 2nd XI umpire for which we are very grateful, left the ground immediately a post match meeting between the two captains was over. He was clearly shaken and stated he had never wanted a game of cricket to be over before. This was the first time this season Rod had not stopped for a post match drink with both teams and the opposition umpire. He will be glad he chose to leave, as one Yeadon player wanted to more than just discuss the match............
Yeadon 2nd XI are an excellent team and worthy of promotion but some of their on field antics were, to be polite, undesirable. It was unsurprising but nevertheless disappointing that the Bradford & Bingley players and officials reported similar circumstances when the two teams had met a few weeks earlier. I hope the Bradford Premier League Executive are aware that now virtually every 2nd XI fixture is umpired by club officials, much may not be reported to them.
I'm sad that I am glad we will not be playing Yeadon at 2nd XI level next summer.