Cuckney move a step closer to a Lord's final after win over Barnt Green

Sunday's win over Barnt Green put the Nottinghamshire Premier league club into the last eight of the national stage of the ECB Royal London Club Championship for only the second time and Ullyott beamed: “As a club it means an awful lot to us.

“It enables us to challenge ourselves on a national level and pit ourselves against clubs we wouldn’t have previously come across or played against.

“To put it simply, the opportunity and potential of playing a game Lords with your best mates is hugely enticing.

“At Cuckney we’re fortunate that the majority of the team over the years have played together since a very young age and then to add more youth to that group has been really special.

“I think it’s testament to the ECB and the organisers that they have secured Lord's as the venue for the final over the years.

“At the end of the day it’s a lot of club cricketers dreams to take the field at the Home of Cricket. So that’s a massive motivation no doubt for all clubs who enter the competition.”

The Club Championship started in 1969 and is a 40-over limited overs knock-out club cricket competition which is open to clubs who play in an ECB Premier League.

Clubs battle it out for the chance to play at the Home of Cricket.

And the final two clubs will get the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of some of the world’s greatest ever players by dining in and walking through the world-famous Long Room on their way out onto the pitch to play.

Cuckney have made the last 16 on a number of occasions and made it to the quarter-final of the competition in 2012, becoming the furthest the club have gone in the competition, but lost out to the eventual champions York.

Put into bat on Sunday, Barnt made 188-6 off 40 overs, Archie Shannon taking 3-30 off his eight overs

Cuckney reached 191-4 off 36.3 overs with 30 for Nick Keast and, after slumping to 52-4, Adam Tillcock (81 not out) and Ewan Laughton (61 not out) seeing them over the line.

Ullyott added: “Kimberley unfortunately got beaten by last year's losing finalists Nantwich. So we now play Nantwich at home on 30th July which is great as you want to play it at your home ground with your home support.”

Cuckney have had some famous faces come through the ranks at the club, with Luke Wood, who was a Cuckney junior and senior, playing currently for Lancashire and formerly of England. Glamorgan’s Billy Root also joined the club for a couple of seasons, at a similar time to that of Wood.

Head of Cricket and Operations at MCC, Jamie Cox said: “The standard of competition this year has been really high, I am looking forward to see who gets to the final and gets the opportunity to play Lord’s. It is one of the highlights of the cricket season for MCC.

“The prospect of playing at the home of cricket has inspired so many grassroots cricketers and every year we see more players coming through their local sides to play for County teams across the nation which shows just how strong our grassroots game is.”

This year’s final takes on Saturday, 9th September. For more information visit lords.org