BRADFORD & Bingley are determined to write their name into the history books when they take on Woodlands in the Priestley Cup final at Pudsey Congs on Sunday.
Of course, Ed Brown’s side will be coming into the fixture as underdogs and despite taking a hammering against Brad Schmulian’ s men last Saturday, B&B have high hopes for the weekend.
Woodlands saw their way through to the final after beating New Farnley by a bowl out, whereas Bradford & Bingley saw off Townville to reach it.
It will be a repeat of the 2003 final at Pudsey Congs on Sunday and Brown has urged his boys to knock Woodlands off their perch.
He said: “Everyone knows that Woodlands are a bit of a juggernaut when it comes to winning trophies. You could liken them to Manchester City in footballing terms; they just know how to win and that’s what they are there for.
“However, we are determined to put a stop to that; that’s why we play sport and enter these competitions. When you get to the business end of any tournament then you want to win it. We have full confidence and belief in ourselves that we can do exactly that.”
“Winning it would mean the world to us. We’ve got a fairly young team; it’s a historic competition and it would help to write another story in this club’s history.”
It wasn’t the best warmup game for the cup final, as Brown’s side fell to a nine-wicket defeat against this Sunday’s opponents last Saturday, however, the B&B captain believes that the result shouldn’t have too many bearings on the result this time around.
He said: “The nature of the defeat against Woodlands was poor, granted, but it was a one-off result. We’ve played them a few times in the past couple of seasons and we’ve beat them in the T20 and come just short in a couple of the league meetings.
“We are pretty confident in our own abilities against them and we feel that Saturday’s defeat was a bit of a freakish one. Against any good team results like that can happen, and that was the case for us last weekend.
“We are looking forward to Sunday. Of course, we know it won’t be an easy cup final but we’ve already shown that we can get past tough opposition in the lead up to Sunday, with victories against Methley and Townville.”
It’s an all-Bradford final in the Priestley Cup this time around and Brown believes that it highlights just how good the sides are in the city.
He said: “I think it’s reflective of how strong the Bradford League is and how strong the cricket is around West Yorkshire.
“There’s a lot of great talent in the area, particularly if you look at the older and more experienced players within the leagues. Every week, no matter who you are playing, you’re going to face challenges and difficulties in the fixtures.”
B&B have dropped out of the top four in recent weeks and the club’s focus will return to taking back their spot after Sunday’s final, and Brown said: “We are not concerned but we know that it’s our own doing as to why we have dropped out of the top four.
“For us, we know that we’ve got a kind run of fixtures against teams in the bottom half of the table after Sunday’s final against Woodlands, so we should be able to pick up a few victories during that period. If we do that then hopefully we can reaffirm our position in the top four.”
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