A week after the crucial win against St Chads in which North Leeds secured qualification into the Super 7's, North Leeds headed into their 2nd round cup match with confidence.
Fielding one of their strongest sides of the year, North Leeds had a plethora of bowling and batting options.
Armed with 4 potential openers, the decision to bat was an easy one for Holmes to make after he won the toss. With Jonny Haslem and Daniel Holmes to open, North Leeds would be using their 4th opening partnership in 5 games.
Haslem, following on from his 82 in the previous week, started brightly; running well and punishing the bad ball whereas Holmes at the other end was looking a bit nervous with a couple of uncertain drives and cuts.
Having seen the openers off, both Haslem and Holmes gained confidence, with Haslem hitting some huge sixes over the trees and onto the clubhouse roof whereas Holmes preferred the ground approach through cover and square leg.
The 100 partnership came up in the 11th over, North Leeds then decided to push on and aim for the elusive 200, with Haslem leading the charge, leaving Holmes to play the anchor role.
A visit from Judy Murray and ex-player Sam Allison boosted confidence and this propelled Haslem to push on in order to reach his hundred.
A couple more aerial shots that were lucky to evade hands brought Haslem into the 90's and although batsman usually freeze at this stage (Taylor and Deane), Haslem wasn't fazed and reached his hundred with another 4.
With Haslem retiring, Jonny Taylor was brought to the crease and despite him trying to prove that he should be opening, he was adjudged LBW for 6. Harry Dixon (2) was in and out in two balls, again out LBW, a decision he was visibly disgusted at.
Holmes (59*) and Tom Deane (7*) saw it out to the end with Deane doubling his average with that score.
Ilkley required 184 to win and at a run rate of just above 9 per over, Ilkley would need a fast start. Despite openers Dixon and Charlie Whitehill-Sharkey bowling a decent line and length, Ilkely got the fast start they needed with Dixon being hit back over his head for 6 and pathetic dives by Dixon in the covers allowed runs off Sharkey.
However, with Ilkley just behind the rate, Dixon got the needed breakthrough with a very good low catch by Siddharth Tyagi.
After the openers had bowled their 4 over spells, Tyagi and Daniel Holmes were brought on to restrict Ilkley. They did the job which was asked them to do, with Sid bowling a wicket maiden and then Holmes claiming the other opener via a calm catch by Deane at Long-On.
With these wickets, Holmes then brought on Bilal Farooq and Aditya Munot to finish the game off with their accuracy and Sunil Narine esq spin respectively.
With Bilal building the pressure at one end, Adi made inroads into the Ilkley middle order. Firstly, he bowled batsman 5 with a beauty through bat and pad, then a Gilchrist like stumping from Matthew Wadsworth in which the batsman had already started to walk off when he realised Wadsworth was the 'keeper. His final two wickets both came from catches from Taylor.
Adi then had to wait an over to see if he could claim a 5-for but with a returning Tyagi bowling the remaining batsman, Adi ended up with 3-1-9-4 but this was still enough for him to be leading the wicket table, much to the disbelief of his team-mates.
With qualification for the Super 7's and progression into the Quarters in the same week, North Leeds will be hoping that this week is the turning point in their campaign and can carry this form into upcoming matches.