HOLDERS Woodlands will be aiming to become the first side to win the Yorkshire Premier League Play-Off final in successive seasons when they take on Sheffield Collegiate at New Farnley today.

Brad Schmulian’s side are appearing in a record fourth final and are keen to end a long and demanding season by retaining the White Rose Trophy they won with a nine-wicket win over Appleby Frodingham at Headingley last season.

But Schmulian is aware they know very little about their opponents who followed up their Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League title triumph with a fine semi-final win at Castleford last week.

“We will be taking a look at the video from their match at Castleford to see what we can learn about them and the way they play,” said Schmulian to the Bradford Premier League website.

“This is an important trophy for us and we would like to win it again. It has been a long season, but we were all refreshed and the performance at Saltburn in the semi-final showed that.

“There are still areas we can improve on, we dropped a couple of catches and bowled a few wides, so they are things we can sharpen up on.”

Opponents Sheffield Collegiate are appearing in their first play-off final and they will draw inspiration from the fact that Wakefield Thornes (2016), Hanging Heaton (2017), Sheriff Hutton Bridge (2019) and Castleford (2021) all lifted the trophy on their first final appearance.

Two players in the Collegiate line-up who will be know by Bradford Premier League followers are all-rounder Shaaiq Choudhry and opener Jack Timby. Choudhry played with Undercliffe and East Bierley while Timby spent the 2022 season with Farsley.