Heavy Woollen Cup 2025: Leagues, teams and fixtures

The 2025 Solly Sports Heavy Woollen Cup draw has now been made and there are plenty of talking points. In this article, I’ll share the headlines, the first round draw and thoughts on the competition.

Six Yorkshire leagues

As you’d expect, 2024 Heavy Woollen Cup champions Wakefield Thornes (above) of the Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League are back to defend their title.

They have a trip to Bilton who are seeking to bounce back into the Premier Division of the Aire-Wharfe League this season.

Elsewhere, New Farnley (aiming for a fifth Heavy Woollen Cup final in a row) are away at Burley-in-Wharfedale from the Aire-Wharfe League.

Once again, the 50-over competition has its full quota of 32 clubs and now spans six different Yorkshire leagues. The calibre is certainly not in doubt and could reasonably claim to be the toughest cup competition in Yorkshire.

When it started back in 1883 as the oldest club cricket competition in England, the Heavy Woollen Cup rules were limited to those no more than 18 miles from Batley Town Hall.

Well, times have certainly changed but with the demise of the Black Sheep Champions Trophy and the White Rose Trophy only for Premier League winners, the Heavy Woollen Cup filled a void.

Outside of ECB national competitions, the Heavy Woollen Cup is a decent barometer of how your club stacks up against the best of other leagues.

Moorlands are back

The Huddersfield Cricket League champions Moorlands are back in for 2025.

The Heavy Woollen Cup might be prestigious but it still jostles with league cups and national knockouts as clubs pick their battles.

Fixture congestion continues to be a reality; when or if clubs can play fixtures and perhaps when key players are available or how timings suit each will vary.

In 2023, Moorlands pulled out of the Heavy Woollen Cup in protest. It was their debut in the competition but the club were offered a Bank Holiday Monday or a coin toss by Undercliffe (both against the rules).

Undercliffe were expelled and Moorlands resigned at how they felt they were treated.

Eddie Walmsley’s team will want to make an impression and they return as a Premier League side after the Huddersfield Cricket League was granted ECB Premier League status.

In Round One, they’re at home to Hoylandswaine in an all-Huddersfield Premier League showdown.

(In case you’re curious about the rules, clubs unable to find a suitable Sunday must play a midweek fixture of at least 15 overs a side.)

Later in the season

This year, the Heavy Woollen Cup has managed to find space in the calendar to begin later in the season. In 2024, its late-April round one games were caught up in the postponement of matches and delays due to the heavy rain that made grounds unfit for weeks.

The Sunday 22 June opening round hopefully means it’s possible more games get to go the distance. No-one wants to see a dreaded bowl-off… although they’re so rare, it’s a puzzling event when it happens.

York are in

York Cricket Club, who finished third in the Yorkshire Premier League North, have entered the Heavy Woollen Cup for 2025.

They join Woodhouse Grange and Castleford from the YPLN to further bolster the reputation of the Cup, while they are one of three new teams for this edition (along with Moorlands and Yeadon).

York travel to the Eastern fringes of Castleford to take on Bradford Premier League side Townville in a match that’s hard to call.

Upsets?

There’s always that chance to notch a headline-grabbing win in the early ties.

Observers will be consulting league tables and trying to weigh up form, allied with winter signings, to gauge potential favourites or upsets.

There are quite a few inter-league match-ups to ponder. Steeton (Aire-Wharfe League’s Waddilove Cup finalists, above photo) host Woodhouse Grange of the YPLN.

Hemsworth Miners Welfare of the Pontefract Cricket League have a tough tie against Methley but you never know. Aside from defending champions Thornes, the YCSPL are represented by Barnsley Woolley Miners (away at Birstall) and Cawthorne (away at Kirkburton).

Meanwhile, Bradford & Bingley who have enjoyed cup success in the Bradford League, face newcomers Carlton, promoted from Division One.

Of course, by June, there will be several months of 50-over cricket to factor in rather than the uncertainty of an April game where teams have barely played yet.

Who will be selected as the venue for the final?

Hosting the Heavy Woollen Cup is a feather in the cap for any club. It was Honley’s turn in 2024 as cricket purists flocked to this Kirklees village to marvel at the pagoda and enjoy some proper cricket.

In 2023, New Farnley bundled out Woodlands for 84 in the last of their hat-trick of successive Heavy Woollen Cup final wins. That was at Methley’s Little Church Lane HQ in LS26 (above photo).

This year’s venue choice has yet to be decided but it’ll draw a crowd that’s for sure.

ROUND ONE

Round One games start at noon on Sunday 22 June

ROUND ONE
Shepley v Castleford
Bilton v Wakefield Thornes
Moorlands v Hoylandswaine
Townville v York
Yeadon v Rastrick
Ossett v Barkisland
Steeton v Woodhouse Grange

***

Kirkburton v Cawthorne
Woodlands v Pudsey Congs
Hemsworth MW v Methley
Shelley v Almondbury Weslyans
Bradford & Bingley v Carlton
Birstall v Barnsley Woolley Miners
Golcar v Scholes
Burley-in-Wharfedale v New Farnley
Honley v Hanging Heaton