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.

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 wickets from Monte McCague, son of former Kent and England fast bowler Martin McCague, saw Leeds to a narrow victory.

Earlier, skipper George Davis top scored with 86 in a Leeds total of 222 all out.

"Usually I'm a bit more conservative in diving around the field," admitted Aitken, who has been advised by doctors to abandon hopes of playing again this season.

"However, the outcome was getting so close that I threw myself to stop a ball on the boundary and that was when I suffered the injury. To make matters worse I missed the ball completely."

Aitken, who finally emerged from hospital in Norwich at midnight, added: "Fortunately my parents had come up for the game and had booked an Airbnb, so I stayed with them.

"It's gutting for this to happen with the club so close to a Lord's Final but if we get through and I can pick up a bat nearer to the Final, you never know, I might still get to fulfil every local cricketer’s dream."

Leeds, who accounted for two-times former National Village knockout winners Linton Park and then Chestfield in the Kent rounds, took a coachload of 40 supporters to Norfolk for the Quarter-Final and also to Redbourn near St Albans in the round before on July 2 while others made the journey by car.

However, such are the distances involved they are unlikely to command the same level of backing this weekend.

"Our sponsors funded the coach for the last two rounds, at a cost of about £1,800, and we were extremely grateful to them but it would have been too expensive to run a coach down to Truro," Aitken added.

Despite a washed-out programme last weekend, Leeds remain top of Kent League Division 1, although just 13 points separate the top six teams who include Nonington but Aitken insisted that the journey towards Lord's was not proving a distraction.

"The league is more of a slog but I think we've taken energy from the cup run where our brand of cricket is a lot more joyful.

“We were 130 without loss off 11 overs against Blackheath in Surrey in the round after the Kent Final and 90-1 off nine at Redbourn," he said.

Should the game fall victim to the rain, the fixture will move to Leeds the following week and Aitken concluded: "The forecasts for Cornwall don't look very good, so who knows, we might get that home game after all."