The Diocese of Leeds cricket team are through to the quarter-finals of the 2017 Church Times Cricket Cup after another emphatic victory, this time over a combined diocesan side drawn from Carlisle Blackburn and Durham dioceses.
Leeds (playing away. at Burneside near Kendal) won by 125 runs, batting first and scoring 209 for 7 in 30 overs. In reply Durham/Blackburn/Carlisle scored 84 for 6 in 30 overs.
As a result of the latest win, Leeds have topped Group 1, the Northern dioceses, which included Manchester, Chester/Liverpool, Lichfield and Carlisle/Blackburn/Durham. They will now play the a combined Diocese of Norwich and Ely side, runners up of Group 2, the Midlands dioceses on June 26th.
Last year Leeds lost in the final to a strong Diocese of London side.
In the latest match, Leeds batted first with Dan Tyler (88) from St George’s Leeds and Heston Groenweld (51), All Hallows, Leeds, leading the charge at the start. Carlisle/ Blackburn/ Durham had some stand out performances with the ball, with Abbott taking 4 for 40 and Mogford with 3 for 51.
Each team has to be made up of at least 7 clergy and a maximum of four lay members and it was the clergy batsmen who led the way of Leeds. Dan Tyler scored 88, Heston Groenweld 51, Brunel James( Cleckheaton)12, Graham Buttanshaw (Otley) 18not out and Philip Gray (Ilkley) 13 not out
Notley ( 26) and Fyfe ( 25) batted with heart, but tight bowling from Leeds , with Graham Buttanshaw taking two wickets in a fine opening spell, led Leeds to victory. A quarterfinal on June 26th awaits winners Leeds.