Castleford defeat Woodlands in thrilling Yorkshire Premier League Champions’ final at Headingley

Yorkshire Premier League North winners Castleford won the toss and batted at Headingley, scoring 241-9.

Woodlands, victors in the Bradford Premier League, looked out of it at 159-7 but ended up losing by only six runs, totalling 235-9. Castleford, for whom openers Chesney Hughes (61) and Liam Hyde (43) added 103 in decent time, took a liking to the Richardson brothers, with Elliot conceding 29 runs off his four overs and Scott 22 off his quartet.

Muhammad Bilal could not find an early breakthrough either, and it was down to spin twins Chris Brice and Kez Ahmed, as has so often been the case this season, to both slow down the scoring and take wickets.

Brice’s 15 overs earned him 4-59, while Ahmed’s brought him 2-66, but even so Castleford’s top seven all made double figures, with Brayden Clark (34), captain David Wainwright (29), who added 49 for the third wicket, and Christopher Briggs (25) propelling Castleford well past 200.

Woodlands, without key batsman Brad Schmulian, lost Sam Frankland early. However, five of their next nine players all topped 20 to keep them in the hunt, with Tim Jackson (30) and departing captain Cieran Garner (32) adding 42 for the second wicket and Liam Collins (32) and Garner putting on 50 for the third. Things looked like they had turned Castleford’s way until wicketkeeper Greg Finn (23) and Elliot Richardson (40) put on 64 for the eighth wicket.

With 17 balls to go, Woodlands needed 19 with three wickets left, but Jack Young (5-54) dismissed both Finn and Richardson, and Woodlands could only manage one run off Hughes’ final four deliveries to lose by six runs.