Woodhouse Grange have reached the final of cricket’s Black Sheep Yorkshire Champions Trophy for the first time and are now bidding to be the first winners from the York Senior League.

The Sutton-on-Derwent-based club overcame JCT600 Bradford League champions Woodlands, whose ranks included former Yorkshire county players Scott Richardson and Pieter Swanepoel.

In a tightly contested game, Woodhouse claimed victory by 43 runs. Batting first in a high-scoring game, Grange posted 263-7 from their 50 overs.

The tone for the innings was set by openers Andrew Bilton (28) and Nick Hadfield, who put on 59, with Hadfield contributing an important 45.

Chris Bilton and Mike Burdett maintained Woodhouse’s momentum with 51 and 37 respectively.

Intelligent running by Andy Anderson brought him 27 not out off 32 balls, and savage hitting by skipper Steve Burdett allowed the innings to be finished off in style. He struck 27 from only 17 balls to carry Grange to a competitive score.

Woodlands made a steady start in response, with Sam Frankland adding 53 runs to his earlier figures of 3-55.

However, the introduction of Tom Quinn swung the game in Grange’s favour after he took 3-17 in his initial five over spell before Steve Burdett removed the dangerous Richardson for 44.

The game, however, was won for Woodhouse after Woodlands lost three wickets for no runs and were left reeling on 196-7 due to some sharp catching by Andrew Bilton and Josh Jackson, and Burdett knocking back overseas player Sarfraz Ahmed’s middle stump.

This signalled the end of Woodlands’ challenge and they succumbed to defeat in spite of the attempts of Swanepoel as two late run outs sealed their fate.

Grange will now face the Huddersfield League champions Hoylandswaine, whose squad contains seven players with county cricket experience, at Wrenthorpe on Sunday, September 8.