National Village Cup 2024: Yorkshire teams are all out (just)

Frickley Colliery’s home defeat to Woodhouses by one run officially ended Yorkshire’s participation in the National Village Cup for another year.

At the Miners Welfare ground, Woodhouses of the Greater Manchester Cricket League came out on top with a nervy finale. Winning the toss and batting first, the visitors scored 211-7 off 40 overs, thanks to opener Ryan Sloan’s 70, supported by Matthew Kelly’s 48 off 24 balls at the back end.

Frickley Colliery’s Matthew Pinder (3-36) was the pick in a season that has yielded 52 wickets so far across all competitions. Seven bowlers were used to stem the runs.

The reply had to be more than they’ve managed at home all season, eclipsing 206 against Oulton in the Premier Division of the Pontefract & District Cricket League.

To be fair, they gave it a reet good go.

From the dire straits of 30-4, Frickley recovered as the middle order fired. Stephen Ashworth’s 76, followed by knocks by Jason Mills (37) and Bailey Hopkins (37) made things very close.

Alex Spender’s 5-30 (including the final wicket to fall) was the hero with the ball for Woodhouses.

Defeat by a single run with a Lord’s final a couple of games away must be a tough one to swallow but it marks a bit of a trend in recent rounds for narrow losses by Yorkshire villages.

In Round 5, Folkton and Flixton lost by nine runs at Alvanley while Addingham were defeated at Woodhouses by five runs in Round 6.

Good luck to the four remaining sides as Dumbleton welcome Woodhouses and Foxton Granta head to Grampound Road on Sunday 4 August.

After more than 350 villages entered the 2024 Voneus Village Cup, the prospect of Lord’s draws near.

For Yorkshire’s villages, the competition is over for another year – but we’ll be back!