A VILLAGE cricket club is on the road to Lords after clinching a place in the finals of a national competition.

Sessay Cricket Club are through to the last 32 in the National Village Knockout, run by Cricketer magazine.

So far in the competition they have beaten Forge Valley, Ingleby Greenhow, Harome and Sherburn.

They were crowned area champions on Sunday after knocking out Cayton in front of a home crowd of more than 150.

"We are over the moon," said club secretary Mr Alex Jeffray.

"It was a great day, seeing 50 cars parked around the boundary of our little village club.

"And it was a good result because Cayton are our arch rivals in the competition. We have played them 11 times - they have beaten us six times and we have won five matches."

The club has a long tradition of success in the contest. In 1976 they travelled to Lords for the grand final only to be beaten by Cornish side Troon.

They have also reached the semi-finals once and made the last 16 on another cup run.

They make a fourth bid for the quarter-finals on Sunday, July 8, away to Wolviston in County Durham.

Mr Jeffray said: "It is exactly 25 years since we got to Lords and we are hoping that will be lucky for us."