It had taken 3 weeks but finally North Leeds had a game after the emphatic cup win against Ilkley, with Guiseley being the opposition in what would be North Leeds' first 'Super Sevens' game. The fixture from last year still haunts some players in which Guiseley hit a four off the last ball to basically end North Leeds' hopes of winning the title.
With exams over, the players could concentrate on what really matters and fielded their strongest side of the season in hope that they could avenge the previous years defeat.
With Daniel Holmes losing the toss, North Leeds were set to field first however just as Charlie Whitehill-Sharkey was ready to bowl, play had to be stopped as a Community Support Officer arrived to remove about 30 youths who were congregated by the scoreboard. Then, as the youths refused to leave, the Officer marched him off the pitch, a spectacle much to the enjoyment of the specialist third man fielder Jonny Taylor.
When the game had finally started, North Leeds quickly made early inroads with Harry Dixon taking two wickets in an over, firstly getting one to rise, leading to a catch by Siddharth Tyagi and then comprehensively bowling the other opener. The openers then finished their spells with both Charlie Whitehill-Sharkey and Dixon going at under 3 an over.
Holmes then turned to Tyagi in order to keep it tight however Sid didn't oblige and sent down 3 wides in his first 4 balls. Despite this poor start, Tyagi then bowled number 3 through bat and pad in a way that James Anderson would have been proud of.
Guiseley then started to push on but a combination of Copley, Haslem and Holmes kept things tight in the middle overs and despite the odd bye from 'keeper Matthew Wadsworth, North Leeds were in a strong position with 4 overs to go.
Dixon was then brought back for his final over and delivered again with two wickets and only two runs coming from it, however he did have one ball for his hat-trick and 5-for but just wasn't quite clinical enough to claim it. Guiseley finished on 83-8 following a flurry of wickets towards the end, a score which could have been a couple of runs less if Tyagi hadn't decided to drop a catch and palm the ball for a boundary at the same time.
Although 84 shouldn't be a difficult target, teams have struggled to get totals like that in past and a confident start was needed. A slight change in the batting order meant that Taylor would open with Haslem after Holmes had spent too long putting his pads on, leaving him at 3.
The two Jonny's started well, both punishing the bad balls and finding the boundaries with ease. Then, Taylor(7) surprisingly didn't play for his average and was bowled trying to finish the game quickly.
Holmes(23*), finally, made his way to the middle and just rotate the strike whilst hitting the bad balls for four and for one of the first times in his career finished with a strike rate above 100. Haslem then finished the game off with two fours to bring up his 50.
A good win for North Leeds in which they put in a good all round performance and gives them the start they wanted in the 'Super Sevens'.