OH to be 19 again.

Josh Priestley had just batted for 39.3 overs for Pudsey St Lawrence, scoring 154 off 122 balls and hitting 22 fours and four sixes.

He was only out nine balls before the end of their innings against Birstall in the Priestley Cup quarter-final and, having had a bite of tea in the clubhouse (how nice it is to write those words again), he was handed the new ball from the Tofts Road End.

So was the teenager tired during his innings? Not a bit of it.

“I felt like I could have carried on batting for another couple of hours,” said the son of St Lawrence stalwart Iain Priestley, who stood 16th in the all-time list of Bradford League run-scorers before the start of the season with 12, 614.

“I was loving it out there and loving it getting my first hundred for Pudsey St Lawrence.”

The innings smashed his previous best for the Saints – 46 against Wrenthorpe on July 10, while he had come close to it with 41 against Batley the day before his epic knock against Birstall.

But how did the attack from a weakened Championship side (Birstall) compare to batting in the Premier Division of the Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League.

“Up front, the ball did enough – Archie (Scott) got about the only one that misbehaved and a couple kept low, but other than that . . .

“The opening bowlers bowled it well, but after you have batted for 10 overs at Pudsey St Lawrence there are enough runs to be had with a fast outfield.”

As for where he was hitting the ball in his boundary bonanza, Priestley said: “I have always been taught – by my father – to hit it in the V.”

Priestley was honest enough to say that his form at the start of the season was “pretty average” with the bat, starting out at No 7 and then moving up to No 3 after Chris Marsden was injured.

He admitted: “That 40-odd against Wrenthorpe beat my runs for the season in one innings, but it has been all right with the ball and hopefully now I can kick on with a couple of scores.”

Birstall, who are third in the Championship, had been trounced the previous day by Bankfoot and were missing six players.

University students Benedict Gundry, wicket-keeper Chris Becker and Sean Sullivan had all returned south, leading all-rounder Josh Haynes was playing for Malvern College, and James Russell and Charles Orme were also unavailable.

Then opener Eric Austin pulled a calf muscle while fielding and took no further part in the game, St Lawrence kindly providing substitute fielders in the energetic Charlie Parker and Josh Dracup.

Birstall were in such straits that they called up 55-year-old Michael Kaye – father of skipper Nick Kaye – on the morning of the match for his first appearance for seven years.

Given such disparity of players, although St Lawrence were missing Mark Robertshaw, it was no surprise how the match turned out.

Saints skipper Charlie Best and Priestley seemed to be in a race to reach 50 and then 100 after Scott was dismissed, despite Best having a 27-run start.

Best was the first to his half-century with a boundary through wide mid-on, while Priestley got there soon after, and at 179-1 at the second drinks break after 34 overs, Best was 75 and Priestley 76.

With an increasingly nervous mum Jayne watching Josh as he approached his maiden ton, both men reached 87 before Best chipped a slower delivery into the covers to be out for 97, which included 13 fours.

Jayne needn’t have worried, however, as her son, who was 96 when Best was out, clipped the ball powerfully to mid-wicket to reach three figures and then, freed from worry, Priestley then scored his next 51 from just 24 balls before spooning one to wide mid-on.

Although Harry Cullingford and James Smith quickly came and went, Barrie Frankland kept spectators near the clubhouse honest by planting sixes on or over the roof in making 46 not out off just 20 deliveries to take St Lawrence to 350-5.

Birstall, feeling downhearted before the start of the match, definitely were now and put up little resistance after tea, Brandon Silverwood (27) and Juned Hasim Delair (20) apart, and were castled for 94 inside 27 overs, with Parker taking 5-26, with five Birstall batsmen in all being trapped leg before.

St Lawrence now have a mouth-watering semi-final at New Farnley (who they also play in the league the day before at Tofts Road), on Sunday, August 8, with East Bierley travelling to Townville on the same day.

Priestley said: “I would like us to get to the cup final as we are a bit behind in the league now (they are fifth, 40 points behind leaders New Farnley) as we had Chris Marsden and Josh Dracup injured, but I would definitely not rule us out of getting some silverware this season.”