How New Farnley retained the Bradford Premier League

New Farnley Cricket Club 1st XI are cresting a golden wave this season. Their semi-final defeat against Pudsey St Lawrence in the Priestley Cup is the only time they have lost all season in any format.

To pick apart the themes, threads and nuances, I turned to Andrew Lawson, the club’s coach (below, right), for his perspective. With thanks to Ray Spencer / Bradford Premier League for use of images.

To get a sense of how New Farnley have swept (almost) all before them, barring the occasional rain-affected abandonment, the stats point to form across the squad.

Across all competitions, Aidan Langley (1,444 runs), Ryan McKendry (1,232 runs) and Steve Bullen (1,054 runs) have all breached the four-figure landmark.

In the bowling department, Adam Ahmed (79 wickets), Abhay Negi (49 wickets) & Gurman Randhawa (42 wickets) complemented by others have helped to keep that momentum going.

For Lawson, the winning formula can be summed up in one word:

“Consistency. With us winning it last year, can you do it again? Everyone, when the opportunity represented itself, put in that match-winning performance with bat and ball.”

Of course, New Farnley have the resources and contacts to assemble a squad packed with players who have former first-class experience or thereabouts. But that is no guarantee in a very competitive league.

They came into the 2025 season with a settled group of players and opted to strengthen their bowling with Indian all-rounder Abhay Negi and then Ed Brown moved from Bradford & Bingley to improve the top six.

A strong start sets the tone and I suppose we partly have the weather for that. A dry Spring allowed fewer games to be ruined and New Farnley seized the initiative.

From a coaching point of view, Andrew thought the pieces were potentially all in place:

“I knew most of them and knew what they could do. You’re hoping the players hit their straps at the right time. There were no surprises having seen them in the winter and training. As a coach, you want them all to be in form at the right time and that has happened.”

He added: “It just continually rolled on weeks. ‘Let’s make sure we keep going and don’t relax’ and they’ve just kept putting in performances. At no point has anyone’s performance really dipped which is the astonishing part to all this.”

Along the way, you need a bit of luck, to steer clear of major injuries and things like the roulette of the Yorkshire weather to either do you a favour or at least not rob your team of points too often.

At this point in time, New Farnley have won the Bradford Premier League with four games left and claimed the Rigg Bash T20.

Achieving an unbeaten season is a rare thing in the Bradford Premier League but New Farnley will need to be at their best for the run-in. Bradford & Bingley (a), Methley (h), Jer Lane (a) and Townville (h) complete the set.

We wrap up by bouncing thoughts back and forth on league players being picked by Yorkshire. I raise the topic having talked to Yorkshire men’s head coach Anthony McGrath pre-season who mentioned the county would be scouting Premier League talent in Yorkshire.

Lead performance analyst Harrison Allen has been tasked with tracking league performances primarily – but not exclusively – of 17-22-year-olds who could have Yorkshire first-team potential.

Something that’s often at the back of my mind is the way talent develops at different rates and the overall standard of cricket in Yorkshire’s Premier Leagues. Are the county looking at New Farnley players or other teams and leagues?

Matty Rees at Castleford is one example and you’d hope there might be others. Of course, players have jobs, commitments and might not ultimately want to pursue a professional career – or fit Yorkshire’s plans – but league cricket has been used before as a springboard for players like Jonny Tattersall and Finlay Bean.

Meanwhile, New Farnley’s season is heading towards another seismic flurry over this next week.

Whether this is an impressive or career-defining season will become apparent soon enough. It sees games on all three days over the Bank Holiday with Bradford & Bingley (away in the league), ECB National Club T20 (Regional North) Finals Day at Denby (Sunday) then the Heavy Woollen Cup Final at Hanging Heaton against Shepley (Monday).

That could be four trophies and an incredible feat. Time will tell but it’s already been a season to remember for everyone at the Barry Jackson Ground.

Spoken like a coach, Lawson is keen to keep things calm and the ride going even longer: “We just arrive at each game and see what happens that day. The strength of the side is they haven’t looked too far ahead. Let’s hope no-one gets too far ahead of themselves and just keeps playing the level of cricket they’re capable of.”