Jer Lane 121-7

Keighley 125-4

KEIGHLEY’S long wait for major silverware was answered when they claimed the JW Lees T20 trophy beating Jer Lane by six wickets in the final at Hanging Heaton.

Keighley’s last major trophy came in 2012 when a team led by now second team captain Alex Towler won the Priestley Shield.

Keighley’s T20 captain, 17-year-old Louis Horsfield lost the toss and Jer Lane elected to bat first.

After the previous day's disappointing result at Hopton Mills, Keighley were in no mood to let another game slip and both bowlers and fielders were in a mean mood as the Jer Lane batsmen struggled to get the ball away on what was an excellent batting track.

Wickets fells at regular intervals and it wasn’t until the last seven overs when Jer Lane found a partnership in skipper Michael Hustler (39) and Amjid Khan (23), who put on 44 for the fifth wicket.

Despite their heroics, Keighley took three late wickets leaving their opponents on 121-7 in their allotted 20 overs.

All five of Keighley’s bowlers deserved applause but Paul Quinlan was the outstanding performance, taking two wickets in his four overs for a miserly 12 runs.

Keighley’s response was equally impressive, and they were quick out of the traps with quickfire innings from wicketkeeper Adam Smith (26 from 27 balls), Jonny Wilkinson (28 from 13) and Nathan Storton who stayed the course with 32 not out from just 19 deliveries.

It was left to Quinlan to hit the winning runs, a huge six over long on to seal an historic six-wicket win with seven overs to spare and Keighley’s first-ever T20 trophy.

Meanwhile, Keighley host the Keighley Cup final day this Sunday at Lawkholme.

The format is a T20 day seeing semi-final clashes between Oakworth and Harden starting at 10am, then Crossflatts against Bingley Congs. The winners of each game will then meet in the final.

Entrance is £1 and there will be refreshments available throughout the day.

All entrance money and money raised from food sales are being donated to Manorlands Hospice.

Meanwhile, the previous day, Keighley travelled to Hopton Mills looking to put the disappointment of the previous week's defeat against Wakefield behind them in the All Rounder Cricket Bradford Premier League Championship Two.

Quinlan won the toss and invited the home team to bat first on a wicket that he thought might do something for his bowlers and especially against a Hopton team that have won just twice so far this season.

However, despite an early wicket for Ben Jagger (2-59), Hopton carefully started to build their innings around opener Chris Scott who was in magnificent form. Ably backed by Ashley Mackereth (48) Scott compiled an excellent 91. But when he was out the Keighley bowlers got no respite as Umar Abbas crashed 76 off less than a run a ball, Hopton posting a huge 283-7 in 50 overs.

Keighley gave an excellent account of themselves in reply. Eight of their batting line-up made double figures as they battled away to try and catch the Hopton total; however, they could not find a batsman to stay the course and they fell 29 runs short on 254 all out with 12 deliveries to go.

Quinlan top scored with 47 not out, with good support from Hami Shahzad (39), Richard Gould (33) and Max Davidson (30).

Keighley remain top, but only by four points from Wakefield St Michael's, who also have a game in hand.

Keighley’s second string welcomed Hopton Mills, looking to halt their losing streak of three games in league and cup.

Skipper Alex Towler won the toss and elected to bat first. Despite losing a wicket in the first over, Keighley found several good partnerships from there on in with good knocks from wicketkeeper Ahtasham Raza (40) and Ashley Robinson (45).

But it was 18-year-old James Rogers and Under-15 captain Raees Hussain who really caught the eye as they shared an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 97 to see Keighley to 225-4 at tea. Rogers finished 58 not out, while Hussain posted 54no from just 38 deliveries.

In reply, Hopton’s batsmen were unable to get their team back into it due to excellent line and length bowling as well as good Keighley fielding.

Two wickets each for Dillon Birkett, Towler and Jack Rogers contributed to bowling the away side out for 144, an 81-run victory.