Picture by Ray Spencer. New Farnley celebrate their ECB Vitality Club T20 triumph over Wanstead and Snaresbrook at Wormsley last month.
What a summer New Farnley’s first team had. Led by former Yorkshire up and comer Alex Lilley and top-order batter Aidan Langley, it was without doubt Four-some!
Bradford League Premier League winners – defending champions, in fact – league T20 champions, Heavy Woollen Cup winners and ECB National Club T20 champions.
New Farnley went unbeaten across 22 league matches, winning 19 of them, and lost only once across all competitions. That was a mid-July Priestley Cup semi-final against Pudsey St Lawrence.
Overall, they played 45 matches across all competitions, won 41, lost one and had three abandoned.
All-rounder Lilley said: “It was unbelievable, really.
“This season, I’ve had some of the best days I’ve ever had in cricket, and I’m so proud of everybody involved – both on and off the field. Incredible.
“At the start of the season, our priorities were to win the league again and also to win the Heavy Woollen because we lost in the final the year before. In 2024, we were poor to be honest, so we really wanted to win that.
Picture courtesy of New Farnley CC. The home of the Gordon Rigg Bradford League Premier League champions.
“We didn’t target the T20 at all. We saw that as an opportunity to get some young lads in during the group stages and get them some first-team cricket, which we did. And that was great.
“It then felt a little bit harsh when we got to Finals Day to bring back all the senior players, really. But once we got to Finals Day, we thought, ‘We have an opportunity to get into the national competition’.
“That was something the club had never done before, so it became a priority because the league was going so well at that stage.
“It was then just great playing against some teams we’d not played before and at grounds where we’d never been. The away days as well. It was so much fun.
“The best games were probably the North and Midlands regional final, which qualified us for the national final against Wanstead and Snaresbrook at Wormsley last month.
“We played Kendal (Northern League) in the semi-final and then Old Hill (Birmingham League) in the final. The final, in particular, was pretty spicy. We chased down 130 pretty comfortably in that. It was a great win.”
Halifax-born Lilley, aged 33, is club captain down at Lawns Lane but doesn’t skipper across all competitions, sharing leadership duties with the aforementioned Langley.
Picture by Ray Spencer. Captain Alex Lilley lifts the Heavy Woollen Cup, one of four trophies which the first team won in 2025.
“I captain the league side and everything but the T20,” explained the former. “The T20 stuff was an opportunity given to Aidan to boost his leadership skills.
“I’m getting old, and my body’s knackered, so I won’t be around forever. So we wanted to blood someone, and yeah, Aidan did a really good job.
“You could really see him grow into the role, and he was leading quite a few lads who have been around professional cricket and have played a lot. But, to be frank, he’s one of our best players.”
Touching on their only defeat of the season in the Priestley Cup, Lilley said: “We had an off day, and Pudsey were brilliant. We didn’t dwell on it, though. It was like, ‘Let’s just move on’.”
In recent times, the Bradford League’s top flight was dominated by Woodlands. But that task has been taken on by New Farnley, who won this year’s league with a 22-game haul of 388 points. They were 103 better off than Townville in second, with Woodlands closely following in third. New Farnley won seven more games than Townville.
Amidst that dominance, there were some tricky moments recalls Lilley.
“Methley away in mid-June. They’re a good side, and we should have lost that game. We lost early wickets and scrambled up to 230 and defended it,” he said. “Fletcher Coutts got a five-for for us.
Picture by Ray Spencer. New Farnley’s first team pose with the 2025 Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League trophy. Alex Lilley is holding the silverware.
“Then Townville away a couple of weeks later, we were chasing 157 and were 30-3 before Ed Brown came in and teed off for 85 on a tricky pitch. I think they’d used it five or six times, and it was spinning square.
“Look, you’re in a battle most weeks in the Bradford League. It’s a very strong competition. But the one thing we benefitted from compared to last year was that we didn’t struggle with injuries.
“I can’t believe we won the league in 2024. At one point, we had one fit seamer and our overseas (Cam Fletcher) left after seven games. He signed for Derbyshire and then got injured. This year it was smooth sailing for us.
“Abhay Negi from India was brilliant for us.”
Three batters topped 1,000 runs in 2025 for New Farnley; Langley (1,771), Ryan McKendry (1,624) and Steve Bullen (1,291). And three bowlers topped 50 wickets; Adam Ahmed (94), Gurman Randhawa (62) and Negi (60).
Lilley, who bowls left-arm seam and bats in the top and middle order, contributed 37 wickets and 604 runs across all competitions.
Looking ahead to 2026, Lilley said: “It won’t be smooth sailing. I think a lot of teams will have strengthened.
Picture courtesy of New Farnley CC. The club’s Barry Jackson Ground home.
“We want to keep the same group together. Woodlands had that blueprint for years and were really successful with it. And when people are comfortable in an environment – in any walk of life – they perform better.
“We’re trying to get Abhay back. He was brilliant for us on and off the field.
“And we want to keep as many of our good youngsters as we can. Sometimes they come into the ones from the seconds, and we want to give them as many opportunities as we can.”
Yorkshire up and comer Subhaan Ali played his part in 2025, and he made his county second-team debut last month: “He’s got a lot of talent,” said Lilley. “I’d be watching out for him, for sure.”
The skipper says winning the ECB Vitality Club T20 competition, beating Essex League club Wanstead and Snaresbrook in the final at Wormsley, filled the club with a huge amount of pride.
“They’re a proper powerhouse club,” said Lilley. “They’ve got six senior teams, 450 juniors, and I think they have three women’s teams as well.
“I’m actually good mates with their captain, Joe Ellis-Grewal. I went to Uni with him and played a season alongside him at Harrogate. He’s a great bloke.
Picture courtesy of New Farnley CC. The club’s Barry Jackson Ground home.
“To beat them was pretty overwhelming and emotional, actually.
“Our chair, John Baldwin, cried, and you won’t see that very often. The amount of work he’s put in, alongside plenty of others, is quite incredible.
“Our club has come from pretty humble beginnings. When it first started, they played in a park. It was 1952 and they played in Farnley Park. It wasn’t until the early nineties that we moved to our current ground (Barry Jackson Ground). And it was a shell back then. It was an old farmer’s field where they grew potatoes, I think. The club has grown unbelievably in 30 years.
“That wouldn’t have been possible without John’s work.”
As for improvement in 2026, Lilley said: “We’ve got a brilliant coach in Andrew Lawson, who actually coaches the Leeds/Bradford University team and was my coach when I was there.
“He’s massive on not looking too far ahead, being present and trying to win every game of cricket that we play. That’s the mantra and we’ll see where it takes us.”
Away from the first team, Lilley says the club is in a good place off the field.
Picture courtesy of New Farnley CC. The club’s Barry Jackson Ground home.
“It runs really well,” he said. “We have a fully functioning bar, cafe, restaurant if you like. We host a lot of events during the days. A lot of the village get involved.
“We also have a quiz night every Thursday, which is quality.
“It’s a thriving club, but it takes a lot of effort to make sure that happens. There’s a lot of organisation that goes into it, and we’re constantly trying to get better.”
Lilley continued: “One aim for us going forwards is to put more of an emphasis on junior development. We do have a good crop of youngsters coming through, but it’s a very football-heavy catchment area where we are (approximately four miles outside of Leeds City Centre).
“Trying to attract cricketers is difficult, but we’ve got a good group of young coaches who are heavily involved. More senior members of the committee are involved, and we’re trying to build things up.
“I think we’ve got around 80-100 juniors at the club. But look at a club like Pudsey St Lawrence, and they’ve got double that. That’s what we aspire to do.
“To be transparent, we haven’t brought that many through into the first team in recent years. Aidan Langley and Sam Barraclough are the two main ones we’ve brought through, but we want more.
Picture by Ray Spencer. New Farnley’s second team celebrate their 2025 league title success.
“Others are lads who we’ve signed from elsewhere. I signed from Beckwithshaw eight years ago, and I managed to get a few mates to come with me.
“It’s something the club are definitely mindful of.
“Also starting a women’s team is something we really want to do. That’s in the pipeline.”
For the development of the young players, it’s a huge positive that the second team also won their league title in 2025.
As for Lilley, here is a cricketer who came up through the Yorkshire junior and pathway system, into the Academy and second team and played once for the firsts in an early-season friendly against Durham MCC Universities in 2011.
Released midway through 2013, he lost his love for the game: “I didn’t want to play at all after that,” he added.
“But I went to play at Beckwithshaw, where I had a lot of good friends and my brothers played there. I’d joined that club when I was 15, and they were brilliant with me all the way through, really supportive.
Picture by Vaughn Ridley/SWPix.com. Then! Alex Lilley poses at Yorkshire’s 2012 Media Day.
“One of the guys there helped me get a job coaching cricket at Ashville College. I also did some part-time gardening work.
“I’d been with Yorkshire since I was 10 or 11, and it was a massive shock to the system when you’re not part of it anymore. In reality, I wasn’t good enough. It just took a while to appreciate that.
“I’m at peace with it now. I had some amazing experiences, travelled the world, met some of my best friends. But, unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.
“I then went to University and played cricket there. That’s where I really got my love back for it. I played games for Leeds/Bradford (five first-class matches, 2014-2016) and also for the combined Unis team.
“That’s a great set-up. We had a really good team, and a few lads went on to get signed by counties.
“Once I graduated, I went into the working world. I worked for New Balance and some sports marketing agencies, which was fun.
“I’m currently working for a company called SMG (Shopper Media Group). We do retail media for retailers, and I’m currently working with Morrisons.”
Picture courtesy of New Farnley CC. And now! Alex Lilley in his role as New Farnley’s club captain.
