SESSAY Cricket Club are just three games away from a return to Lord’s, scene of their historic 2010 Village Cup triumph, after thrashing Shireshead and Forton by nine wickets.

The reigning Persimmon National Village Cup champions will face Scottish side Freuchie or Houghton Main, who will play on Sunday after heavy rain north of the border caused their match to be abandoned after 20 overs.

Shireshead won the toss and elected to bat first on a damp pitch, a decision which proved costly.

A superb spell from Mark Wilkie, whose 78 in last year’s final earned him the man of the match award at the home of cricket, saw the medium pace-man rip out the middle order to end with figures of 5-16 as Shireshead and Forton were reduced to 69 all out.

Although Sessay secured victory with room to spare, the North Lancashire side had started well and were 44-1 before nine wickets fell for only 25 runs.

Wilkie came back out to open the batting and scored 26 not out, while fellow opener Matthew Till was caught for 23 off the bowling of Mike Park.

Nick Thorne added 12 further runs to the total and crowned another episode in a series of excellent cup displays for the club, who previously beat two-time Village Cup winners Woodhouse Grange in style to reach the last 16.

Club secretary Keith Houlston was impressed with the performance, saying: “It was pretty clinical really.

“Wilkie was really accurate on a damp pitch and they couldn’t deal with it.

“They had hoped to put 150 on the board and put us under some pressure, but we held our catches and caused them a lot of problems.”

Sessay captain Stephen Langstaff said: “It was relatively comfortable and we turned in a really good day’s work.

“It was a tough wicket which was a bit soft and sticky. It was good to bowl first. Our bowlers were perfectly suited to it and Wilkie and Joseph Watson were crucial. Mark has been a bit of a golden arm for us in this competition.”

Should Freuchie win in their re-arranged match, Sessay could face a round trip of more than 500 miles to play in Fife on Sunday, July 24. The Scottish side were 58-3 when heavy rain ended their match against Houghton Main.