Bradford & BIngley stun Woodlands in Priestley Cup final

The left-hander, who flies back to Australia on Wednesday, was man of the match as his club surprised Woodlands in a rain-interrupted Priestley Cup final at Pudsey Congs.

Bingley, full of energy from ball one, defeated the Bradford Premier League Premier Division leaders, whose monumental schedule is starting to take its toll, by six wickets.

Left-hander Miller almost saw his team home with 55, featuring in vital stands with Matthew Swallow (34), who was promoted one place up the order, and skipper Ed Brown, and was named man of the match by adjudicator Mick Varley.

In a quirk of fate, the margin of victory was the same as when the clubs met in the final 20 years ago, with that result again being an upset.

Ed Brown played his part with bat and ball, and the B&B skipper was left deservedly holding the trophy aloft at the end of the day. (Image: Ray Spencer.)

Bingley won the toss and chose to bowl, but that was before the first downpour, which reduced the match to 42 overs per side.

Further rain, which was far worse than forecast, then lopped another five overs off each innings, and it was credit to the Congs groundcrew, who were busy taking covers on and off, and umpires Martin Kellaway and Dave Goodlad that so much cricket was possible.

Jack Hartley was on the money to clean bowl both Tim Jackson and Brad Schmulian, leaving Woodlands at 22-2, and there was only a partial recovery by opener Sam Frankland and Tom Clee, both of whom were compromised by injuries.

Frankland damaged his right calf running between the wickets and required a runner, while Clee was struck on the knee and was limping, adding to the injuries of Kez Ahmed and Jak Murphy (hamstring).

Bingley’s ground fielding and catching was near perfect, and Swallow’s smart low catch off Brad Reeve to dismiss Clee left Woodlands on 51-3.

Pace bowler Jack Luxton then had Kieran Collins caught by Billy Whitford, and, after the players had taken an early tea due to rain, off-spinner Reece Cockshott bowled top-scorer Frankland for 36.

Sam Frankland batted particularly well given he was injured, and was Woodlands' top scorer with 36. (Image: Ray Spencer.)

Brown castled Scott Richardson for one and the in-form Muhammad Bilal edged behind to Matthew Duce off Hartley to make it 118-7.

Finn was caught by a diving Brown off Cockshott for 22, and Elliot Richardson made only eight before hitting the accurate Yasir Abbas to Hartley.

Ahmed struck some late blows to get Woodlands over 150 but perished when he skied Brown to Whitford, who had earlier pulled off a sensational piece of acrobatic fielding on the boundary edge to stop a six.

The on-song Hartley finished with 3-34, with Brown taking 2-6 and Cockshott 2-41, Abbas ending with 1-13 off seven overs and Luxton 1-18 off five.

Bingley were set a DLS target of 153 and paced their effort superbly, despite losing openers Jacob Slator (12) and Whitford (11) to Bilal to make it 31-2.

Bradford & Bingley kept their cool as underdogs, and were left with the trophy at the end of it all. (Image: Ray Spencer.)

Then Miller came to the wicket, and initially he played second fiddle to No.4 Swallow, who timed the ball well.

But the latter gave his wicket away when the partnership had reached 65 by driving Schmulian loosely to mid-off when not to the pitch of the ball.

Brown then joined Miller and grew in confidence after a nervy start.

Miller was eventually dismissed by Bilal not long after reaching his half-century, which included six fours and came off 75 balls.

Brown finished on 24 not out, with Abbas smacking Schmulian for a straight six to finish proceedings with eight balls to spare in what proved a long day.

Now Woodlands, for whom Bilal took 3-40, must pick themselves up before Sunday’s Solly Sports Heavy Woollen Cup final against New Farnley at Methley.