Otley CC, the Winners of the U15 East Section with the Craven Shield

After winning their respective Under 15 divisions, Otley and Ilkley went into their League Play-Off match in confident moods, despite both sides missing key players for differing reasons.

Otley batted first with captain Josh Atkinson and Jake Coleman putting together a partnership of 91 for the first wicket before Atkinson retired having made 50 from 36 balls, which included 8 boundaries. He was followed back to the pavilion by Coleman, who was trapped LBW by James Harrison for 37. Jack Graham added 11 before he was bowled by leg-spinner William Spivey, who then proceeded to bowl Declan Adams for a duck two balls later. This left Otley on 107-3 with four overs left as their innings threatened to finish with a whimper. However, an unbeaten partnership of 26 between Lewis Greenwood (13 not out) and Zak Stead (16 not out), who both hit big sixes down the ground, meant that Otley finished on 133-4 from their twenty overs. Spivey was the pick of the Ilkley bowlers as he finished with figures of 2-23 from his four overs.

Ilkley were in a positive mood as they prepared to chase down a score which was much lower than what they first thought they were going to be chasing. However, this confidence was short lived as the visitors were reduced to 10-3 thanks to fantastic opening spells from Jake Coleman and Zak Stead as the key wickets of Jordan Harrison and William Spivey were picked up. However, these early wickets brought Luke Bott to the crease. Bott hit four boundaries in his 40 as he shared in partnerships of 39 with N Merrick (16) and 29 with brother Callum (7), as they began to recover Ilkley`s innings. Just as it looked like Ilkley had a chance of an unlikely win, Josh Atkinson ran out Bott with a direct hit, and despite some complacent bowling from the Otley bowlers, the visitors could only muster 110-7 in reply. Zak Stead finished with figures of 2-14 from his four overs to complete a good all-round performance as Otley won by 23 runs.