WOODLANDS won a memorable Priestley Shield final which will surely go down as one of the best in the Bradford League competition's long history.

It produced 575 runs and the outcome was in doubt until the last Hanging Heaton wicket fell with eight balls of the match remaining.

Hanging Heaton will naturally feel disappointed at losing by 11 runs but they played their part in a contest which was a wonderful advert for second-team cricket.

Woodlands skipper Cieran Garner had no hesitation in choosing to bat first on a beautiful Cleckheaton wicket which the batsmen found to their liking.

There was an early setback for Woodlands when Garner was trapped lbw by Michael Horner for two, which meant that Liam Brearley and Jack Carter had to play cautiously.

Their progress was slow and when Carter was caught behind off Chris Goodair for eight, Woodlands were 43-2 after 18 overs.

The tempo of the innings and the direction of the match changed with the arrival at the crease of Liam Collins, who started to attack the bowling as he and Brearley shared a third-wicket stand of 134 in just 19.4 overs.

Collins produced a number of well-timed cuts and powerful pulls as he hit one six and 15 fours, racing to 92 off 67 balls before holing out off spinner Jamie Baulk with his century in sight.

Brearley was more circumspect as he played the anchor role for his side and he produced a series of pleasing strokes as he completed a well-deserved century, with his celebrations showing what it meant to him.

With the scoring rate increasing, Jack Bleazard (27) and Rob Medcalf (16no) helped Brearley push the final total up to an impressive 293-4.

Brearley finished unbeaten on 126, a magnificent innings which contained four sixes and ten fours. It was a performance which earned him the man of the match award.

What made this such a special match was the way Hanging Heaton approached the task of chasing such a big score.

Francis Nelson was dismissed with just one run on the board but they did not let that setback temper their positive mindset.

Rob McFarlane arrived at the crease and immediately took the attack to the bowlers. He dominated a second-wicket stand of 148 with opener Oliver Newton as he raced to 84 off 69 balls.

McFarlane had seemed to be winning the match almost single-handed before he was bowled off his pads by Medcalf.

Hanging Heaton were ahead of the run rate and opener Newton and Steve Bourne kept the scoreboard clicking over.

Bourne holed out for 26 off left-arm spinner Liam Collins, who also removed Newton soon after for 55.

Still Hanging Heaton refused to throw in the towel. Chris Goodair (28) and Horner (26) kept their challenge going until Horner was caught in the deep by Garner to give Tom Lightfoot his third wicket.

Lightfoot finished with 3-40, Collins took 3-45 and Medcalf picked up 3-33 as Hanging Heaton were all out for 282.