Otley crowned T20 champions with finals day masterclass

Semi-Final 1: Bolton Villas 1924 beat Steeton by 4 wickets

Bolton Villas 1924 had earlier beaten Steeton in Semi-Final 1 to earn their place in the Final, Zahid Khan initially removing captain James Robinson without scoring after electing to field on a cloudy Sunday morning. Steeton counter-attacked via Louis Horsfield (24 from 16 balls), Stephen Pearson (40 from 33 balls) and Paul Quinlan (30 from 23 balls), though regular wickets fell, Adam Shabir taking 3-35. Harry Snowden (19 from 11 balls) boosted Steeton's score to 150 all out.

Bolton Villas 1924's chase was anchored superbly by Inayat Meeran, whose unbeaten 58 (from 46 balls) proved to be the match-winning innings. Muhammad Faizan Zafar added 29 (from 25 balls) and Siraj Hussain chipped in with 15 (from 11 balls) as Villas reached 151-6 with 11 balls remaining. Robinson took 2-22 for Steeton. In what is clearly a favoured format for Villas 1924, who are currently bottom of Division 1 in the League, the result meant that they reached the T20 Cup Final for the second year running - a very commendable achievement.

Semi-Final 2: Otley beat Rawdon by 5 wickets

As the sun came out in the early afternoon, Otley booked their place in the Final with a controlled 5-wicket victory over Rawdon. The Larkfield Road outfit found scoring challenging against a disciplined Otley attack and closed on 131-9 from their 20 overs. Andrew Duckworth struck an enterprising 25 (from 16 balls), Alfie Holmes made 24 at the top of the order and Caleb Futter added 22 at a strike rate of 100, but the skill of Damon Reeve (2-18) alongside a clutch of wickets from Josh Priestley (3-29) ensured that Otley had a modest target to chase.

Otley's reply was dominated by an explosive innings from Ben Morley, who blasted 42 from just 16 balls, including five 6s, setting the chase alight. Josh Atkinson followed in Morley's wake with a composed 40, while George Myers contributed 23 before Charlie Parker finished the job as Otley reached 135-5 with more than 4 overs to spare. Ollie Jacques took 3-28 for Rawdon.

Final: Otley beat Bolton Villas 1924 by 9 wickets

On a glorious summer afternoon at Adel Cricket Club, the Final of the AWSCL T20 Cup got underway at 5pm, Bolton Villas 1924 choosing to bat in front of a healthy, expectant crowd. Initial breakthroughs from Charlie Parker (2-11), Josh Priestley (1-25) and Freddie Hill (1-35) meant that a recovery job was needed - and this duly came from Prathamesh Karande (61 not out from 48 balls) and Awaise Hussain (49 not out from 42 balls) as the pair added an unbroken 116 for the 5th wicket to lift Bolton Villas 1924 to 138-4, although this felt very light given Otley's powerful batting line-up.

Despite the early wicket of Alex Atkinson, any hopes Villas had of defending the total then disappeared in spectacular fashion as Ben Morley launched several straight sixes in an irresistible 41-ball innings of 84 not out. Josh Atkinson provided the perfect foil with an unbeaten 47 (from 30 balls), sharing an unbroken 2nd wicket partnership of 127 as Otley romped home in emphatic fashion inside 14 overs to claim the AWSCL T20 Cup.