Leeds & Broomfield Cricket Club face 600-mile round trip for National Village Cup Semi-Final against Truro side Grampound Road

By Mark Bristow

Leeds & Broomfield are facing a huge logistical challenge as they aim to clinch their place in a Lord's Final this weekend.

Leeds make the 300-mile trip to Truro in Cornwall on Sunday for their National Village Cup Semi-Final against Grampound Road with a visit to the home of cricket on September 3 awaiting the winners.

And here’s that winning moment #NVC23 @TheCricketerNVC pic.twitter.com/iS3sFxrRbC

But before the long trek west, they must head east on Saturday for their Kent League Division 1 top-of-the-table clash with Nonington in a game that will have a significant say in the promotion race as both sides pursue a place in the second tier of Kent club cricket next season.

Leeds completed a 12-run win in the Quarter-Finals of the Village Cup two weeks ago away to Ashmanhaugh and Barton Wanderers in Norfolk but any hopes of a kinder draw in the Semi-Finals were scotched when they were handed the 600-mile round trip to Cornwall.

Speaking before the weekend, batsman and former skipper Max Aitken said: "We're still finalising the arrangements but it looks as though we will finish the game at Nonington and then head off straight afterwards in four or five cars to spend the night in Exeter and complete the remainder of the journey on the Sunday morning.

"To go straight there would take about seven hours. You'd have thought that they would have played the Semi-Final at a neutral venue somewhere between the two, but it's not the case. We've been unlucky with so many away draws."

Aitken, the leading Leeds batsman in the competition so far with 245 runs, was a significant casualty of the Quarter-Final clash when he suffered a dislocated right shoulder while diving for a ball in the concluding overs when five