ONLY Manchester side Woodhouses stand between Sessay Cricket Club and a shot at successfully defending the Persimmon National Village Cup title they won at the home of cricket a year ago.

Keith Houlston, club secretary, revealed his excitement as the big prize of another memorable day out at Lord’s grew ever nearer.

“The feeling around the club is getting stronger and stronger as the final gets close,” he said. “It’s so near but yet so far – Woodhouses are a massive obstacle in our way.”

Sessay have been away from home in all but one of their six cup ties so far in the competition.

In their last Village Cup outing they faced a 450-mile round-trip to Scotland to face Freuchie in Fife.

They are looking at another cross-country trip to the North West for the Woodhouses clash to take on a strong side who trounced Stainsby Hall by 122 runs in the quarter-finals.

Despite the obvious pedigree shown by their opponents so far this season, Houlston is sure his side can more than match the opposition.

“Woodhouses are sweeping all before them quite convincingly,” he said. “They’ve got some very strong players who have played at a high level and they’re top of their league, but they’ll respect us because we’re reigning champions.”

Captain Steve Langstaff is keeping his feet firmly on the ground, only going so far as to say that he was “quietly confident”.

He added: “The final is close but we’re expecting a tough game in the semi-final. They’re a good side with an excellent pedigree. We’re title-holders but I think we’re the underdogs.”

Woodhouses were subject to an investigation from Village Cup organisers after their quarter-final, with the focus of the inquiry on the amateur status of two players.

Cup rules state competitors must have played no more than one county second team match in the last two years and Sam Sweeney fell foul of that rule, having appeared twice for Northamptonshire seconds and has been declared ineligible for the remainder of the competition.

A grey area over the eligibility of Woodhouses’ Australian fast bowler Luke Swards also emerged but, despite having turned out for Australian Prime Minister’s XI and the ACT Invitational XI in 2008 against Sri Lanka and India – taking the wickets of such players as Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan – the matches were not labelled ‘first class’ and Swards has been cleared for Sunday’s game.

Both Houlston and Langstaff were keen to highlight that a strong team ethic had been more important to the cup run than any one player, with Sessay’s Freuchie quarter-final a case in point.

In trouble at 6-3 following the early dismissals of the top-order trio Mark Wilkie, Matthew Till and Nick Thorne, wicketkeeper Nick Harrison and Chris Till put on a stand of 102 for the fourth wicket to help to recover the innings.

In the wake of last year’s achievement Houlston claimed it was “the greatest moment in the club’s history” but a second Lord’s victory this year would “definitely take it up a notch” according to Langstaff.

“It would be the crowning moment in the club’s history,” he said. “Only three teams have retained it before. If we could be the fourth it would be a miraculous achievement.

“But whatever happens on Sunday, we’ve done a fantastic job in defending our title. It means an awful lot to captain this side – I’m very privileged.”