RAQEEB Younis has endured the summer from hell, but could end it with three trophies.

The Jer Lane skipper, who has suffered from Covid 19 and a pulmonary embolism this season, has already got his hands on the Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League Group B T20 silverware and could follow it with the Division Two league title and the Jack Hampshire Cup.

His Jer team are top of the fourth-flight table, 20 points ahead of Hopton Mills with three matches left, but Younis is not counting any chickens as they have derbies against Buttershaw St Pauls (home, August 28) and fifth-placed Bowling Old Lane (away, September 11), who have both beaten Jer in the league this season, while in between, they travel to Northowram Fields, who are currently third.

In the Jack Hampshire final, Jer face East Ardsley, currently fourth in the table, at Spen Victoria on Sunday, September 12 (noon).

Speaking after his Jer Lane team had beaten Heckmondwike & Carlinghow in the T20 semi-final and Sandal in the final, both at Carlton, Younis said with a degree of understatement: “It has been a bit of a hard year for myself.

“It started off really well, but then it has been a season of injuries and Covid.

“I was feeling a bit queasy when we played Yeadon in the league and just after the game it hit me hard and I spent a week in hospital (Bradford Royal Infirmary) with Covid.

“My oxygen levels were really low, I was struggling to breathe and my whole body was in bits, but thankfully when I got out of the hospital, I felt a little bit better and started playing again but I was not 100 per cent.

“Then, three weeks ago, I got a clot in my lungs and I was told that I would not be playing again, but luckily I have made a full recovery, and thankfully the boys have stood up and been counted.”

Carlton again looked a picture for the Group B finals, and Jer’s Farakh Hussain played the outstanding innings of the day, scoring 125 off just 61 balls against Heckmondwike, hitting seven fours and 12 sixes – one of which clattered into his own car (shades of Illingworth St Mary’s), which was parked outside the ground, while another surprised someone driving by, landing on their bonnet.

With Younis (30) and Cosmond Walters (28) chipping in, Jer Lane scored 207-5, having only been 63-1 at halfway, with Hussain enjoying flicking maximums into the leg-side, more by timing than by brute force.

Only opening bowler Razeb Raja escaped punishment as Hussain hit Khurram Shehzad for three sixes in one over and repeated the dose against Waqas Asaad soon after, also hitting two fours in an over that cost 26.

Walters took Heckmondwike skipper Usman Qureshi for two sixes and two fours in the 18th over only to then be dismissed.

Understandably, Heckmondwike could not match this onslaught and finished on 116-9, with Chris Allen (28), Abdullah Qureshi (27) and Shehzad (22) all topping 20 as Walters, Osama Ahmed and Mohammed Aezaz Dar showed their mean streak with the pink ball.

Sandal had a passage straight into the final, but their 108-9 after winning the toss always looked under-par, with only Brandon Hewlett (22) breaking 20 as Dar (2-10), Walters (2-18) and Mohammed Jamal (2-13) turned the screw.

Hussain and Abubakar Dawood both scored 18 opening in the reply, and it was 38-0 after two overs, with the first over of the innings by Sam Noden costing 24.

Jer, who were given 22 runs in wides, were seen to a four-wicket victory with 13 balls to spare by wicket-keeper Imran Mirza (27no), despite Amjid Sadiq returning the day’s best figures of 4-7.

Younis said of the finals day: “Thankfully Farakh was on song in the first semi-final and won us the game. He was a bit tired at the end but it was a magical knock, and once he gets going he is hard to stop against any bowling attack.

“In the final, Sandal are a good unit and put us under the pump after we were 38-0 after two overs, but they just hit a line, bowled well and put us under a bit pressure but we have the experience to see us over the line and they were probably 30 to 40 runs short.”