On Saturday August 11th 2018, off-spinner Archie Ralphs became the youngest player to represent North Leeds 1st XI at the age of 14 years and 6 weeks. After a very successful season for the 2nd and 3rd XI, Archie was more than deserving of his opportunity. This being underlined by the fact that less than a month earlier Archie took 5-7 in his 6 allotted overs in the AWJCL U15 Grove Cup final, deservedly picking up the Man of the Match award.

On 1st XI debut against Adel, Archie achieved the excellent figures of 7-1-19-2 with his first wicket caught by Taran Chana - as North Leeds bowled Adel out for 156 and ended up winning the game by 8 wickets. Archie played in two further 1st XI games, both victories, against Bilton and Guiseley – ending with 3 wickets @13.33.

In finishing the season with the 2nd XI Archie was able to add another trophy to the 2018 haul, winning the Division 4 with the 2nd XI and contributed an excellent 32 wickets @14.94, the second most in the team and finished 5th in the average. This is without forgetting his 25 wickets @ 13.24 in the 3rd XI, finishing 3rd in the averages. A fantastic total of 64 senior wickets at an average of 14.10 in 36 games, quite a return!

In addition, it was great to see a number of North Leeds juniors including Tom Alldred, Tij Kapote, Balraj Seehra, Charlie Sutton, Matt Royles and Karam Ramzan represent the senior teams in 2018.

A brilliant season for Archie and the juniors for representation in the senior teams, thanks to all three captains, especially 3rd XI captain Steve West, , for providing these opportunities to junior cricketers. Below are some photos of Archie’s 1st XI debut.

Photograph from John Heald Photography