North West Cricket League Championship leaders Read upset the odds to beat top-flight Little Lever in the Hamer Cup final away from home.

On a good pitch, Little Lever captain Josh Gent had no hesitation on batting first on home soil when he won the toss.

But they lost opener Joe Capstick, who mistimed a pull and was caught off Read overseas amateur, Zadian Muller, for one with the score on 10.

Sub-professional, Keiran Powell, was joined by OA Nipun Gaikwad and they looked quite comfortable, taking the score up to 34, when Gaikwad was bowled round his legs by Nizam Zaid. He was quickly followed by Adil Nisar (0) and Mukhtar Nasir (one) as Little Lever were reduced to 44-4, Read taking all their catches.

Gent joined Powell as they looked to rebuild the innings but the big wicket of Powell fell with the score on 73 - caught on the edge by Muller off Chris Holt for 41.

Matt Heap was introduced as the fifth bowler and continued to build the pressure, removing Gent (12) and Adam Carter (one) to reduce Little Lever to 87-8. This quickly became 88-9, when Curtis Anderton (one) was caught by Joe Halstead off Ockie Erasmus.

The last pair of Andy Flear and Joshua Hill took a belated powerplay and looked to add some late runs. They reached the hundred mark, when Heap returned and had Flear caught by Holt to give him a third wicket and excellent figures of 3-5 off six overs.

Nizam Vaid (2-26), Chris Holt (2-31) and Erasmus (2-18) all had useful figures.

A target of 101 looked well under par, however in a final anything can happen.

Read openers Declan Bailey and Will Wrathall clearly had a plan and went on to the attack from ball one, taking advantage of the initial powerplay. The ball went to all parts of the ground on a regular basis as they were scoring at virtually 10 runs per over.

Gent made several bowling changes, but the Read batsmen seized the moment and immediately took the batting powerplay. Bailey fell with the score on 64 when he was bowled by Hill, for a run-a-ball 20. He was replaced by Muller, but the runs just kept coming. Wrathall reached his 50 and together with Muller, reached the target in only 12.1 overs to win by nine wickets. Skipper Wrathall ended on 57 not out, Muller on 22no.

The post match presentation by NWCL chairman, Bill Slinger saw him thank Little Lever for their excellent hosting of the final, including the ground staff, people on the gate, the bar staff and the catering. He also thanked the scorers, the umpires, the cup sponsor, as well as the two teams.

The man-of-the-match award decided by the umpires (Frank Hodgkinson and Bill Slinger) and match manager, Mike Bridges, considered the excellent Read bowling performances, particularly Matt Heap, however for his captaincy of the side and his 57no, the award went to Will Wrathall.