Several of our cup competitions have seen significant progress in the last few weeks.
The rearranged 2025 David Townley Memorial Twenty20 Cup is finally approaching it’s end as Metro will host Lancashire on Sunday 16th August.
The Lions were handed a final place when Somerset were forced to concede their semi final. Rivals Metro and Sussex had a hard fought clash on the other side of the draw as built on Mark Bond’s unbeaten 54 and a quickfire 33 from Dan Field the Sharks posted 152 for 2. With Matt Dean scoring 88 in the Metro reply and a partnership of 86 with Hardik Patel – Metro got home despite losing 6 wickets.
Cheshire Cobras are the first team to book a 2026 cup final slot after winning the Midlands half of the Midland & North Development T20 Cup. Playing at a very supportive Wolverhampton cricket club and with the possible advantage of a bye that allowed them to watch the Midlands semi-final where a strong Birmingham Stars side were easily able to overcome Gloucestershire Growlers taking only just over 9 overs to chase down the target set of 118 without the loss of a wicket, led from the front by skipper Hassan Ali who scored 51. The Stars then set a competitive 164 for 2 in the second match of the day, their top scorer was Danial Shahid with a 50, but the Cobras were up to the task and chased this with three overs to spare for the loss of just two wickets as both Matt Lancett and skipper Mike Harrison hit 50s.
The Cobras have to wait until the northern half of the draw winners are confirmed, at their final on the 16th August when Bradford & District face Greater Manchester Falcons, to see where they will play the final on the 6th September.
The Falcons were comfortable in their semi-final as on their trip to Durham the hosts were restricted to 134; Jack Moffat top scoring with 35. The visitors made this target look easy as they needed just twelve and a half overs to complete the chase as both Wasim Afridi, 55, and Toseef Akhtar, 53, retired not out and the home side did not take a wicket. The other match was a much closer affair with Lancashire travelling to play Bradford & District. The hosts were bowled out on the first ball of their final over as Arslan Sabir starred with the ball taking 2 for 9, the total of 159 built on a rapid 40 from Shah Miah and a dogged 36 from Ed Hastings. The hosts bowled well and backed this up with sharp fielding that saw them take three run outs so despite a 50 from Sheraz Chohan the Lions fell 10 short in the chase.
In the Primary Club Cup just three quarter finals were played as Somerset v Northamptonshire fell foul of the weather and was eventually settled via toss of a coin with Northamptonshire winning.
Kent won their game against Yorkshire with Tom Barton’s 83 enabling them to overhaul their visitors total of 168 built around 51 from Visrat Kumar Bhatti. Kent will now host Northamptonshire in the semi finals. Sussex and Metro will renew their rivalry at Blackstone in the Sussex countryside on the 18th July. Metro won their quarter final away at newcomers Staffordshire – the hosts bowled out for 147 as both Mo Ghalib and Rory Field took three wickets, before Thomas Froud smashed 113 not out from just 49 balls to make light work of the chase. Sussex had a tougher task hosting Lancashire Lions at the beautiful Bede’s School ground but after Mark Bond retired hurt Dan Field with 103 and Si Ledwith with 66 set an impressive 244. This was too much for the Lions as Shahzaib Haider, 80, had no support from other batters in a score of 120. The bowling stars were Dave Daniels with 4 for 27 and Deacon Finn, 2 for 20.
Earlier in the season Cheshire Cobras eased past Yorkshire Vikings in similar fashion to Metro’s win over Surrey VICC, both matches were in the first round of the 2026 David Townley Memorial Twenty20 Cup.
