Yorkshire saw off a Lancashire side including sons of two legends as they made a winning start to the ECB Under 18s County T20 competition on Sunday.
The county’s Academy side beat Durham by 25 runs in the morning fixture at Weetwood before beating the Red Rose by four wickets in the afternoon Roses clash.
For Lancashire, the sons of Glen Chapple and Andrew Flintoff both played – Joe and Corey.
In the opening match against Durham, Yorkshire posted 165-9 thanks to 63 from Isaac Light, their captain, wicketkeeper and opening batter, and 53 from Noah Kelly.
The pair shared 95 for the second wicket from 32-1 before Durham were bowled out for 140 in reply.
Each member of Yorkshire’s five-man attack struck, led by Josh Hen-Boisen’s 3-29 from four overs. New ball pair Jawad Akhtar and Harvey Round claimed two wickets apiece.
Later in the day, Akhtar impressed again with 3-17 from four overs as Lancashire were restricted to 125-9. This time Charlie McMurren and Josh Hoyle added two wickets apiece. McMurren removed Chapple for five and Akhtar had Flintoff for one.
In reply, Kelly’s good day continued with 46 from number three, the victory secured with 11 balls remaining.
These victories came on the back of a pair of friendly successes against Scarborough College last week.
Yorkshire’s U18/Academy struggled in T20 cricket last summer, with Kelly recently saying: “The aim for this year is to push on with our one-day and T20 stuff.
“We got knocked out in the group stage of the T20 competition, so it would be nice – with a young side – to progress onto the national stages of that.”
Good progress in T20 cricket has also been matched by the county’s second team, who also struggled last season in that format despite wining the four-day Championship title.
They have won their opening four matches in the North Group, beating Leicestershire twice at Headingley last week and Durham twice at Chester-let Street on Monday. A significant number of first-team players played for all sides.
On Monday, at Durham, Yorkshire won the first match by six runs having posted 157-7. Fin Bean top-scored with 54 from number three before Dom Bess, Ben Cliff and Jack Shutt all struck twice with the ball.
In the second game, opener James Wharton crashed 61 off 25 balls in 197-8 before Matthew Fisher took the new ball and returned 3-26 from four overs in Durham’s 131 all out – a 66-run margin of victory for Yorkshire.
The seconds face Lancashire at Barnsley tomorrow afternoon (2pm).
Meanwhile, Yorkshire’s D40 first team were beaten by Lancashire at Higham on Sunday as they began life in the National Quest League after promotion last year.
Matthew Bateman top-scored with 57 in 224 all out, a total reeled in by the visitors for the loss of three wickets inside 35 of 40 overs.
IMAGE: Academy batter Noah Kelly.
