Comparing the achievements of clubs from different leagues is not a straightforward task. 

But there’s a strong case to be made for James Cole’s Northern to be among the best cup sides in the country this year.

At the same time, they’re due a stroke of luck.

They won their group in the National Club Championship, before losing to St Anne’s on a bowl-out. They won the Love Lane Liverpool Competition’s Vitality Club T20 rounds, then the area final, only to come unstuck on a sticky wicket against Sandiacre Town.

They reached the quarter-finals of the ECHO Knockout, only to be forced to withdraw amid a fixture pile-up. And they’ve reached the same stage of the Ray Digman Trophy – if they get past defending league champions Wallasey, this year’s champions-elect Ormskirk await in the semis.

So maybe that bit of luck will come in the Lancashire Cup.

Sunday sees Cole and his side travel to Emirates Old Trafford to take on Longridge in the final, 10 years after their only previous success.

Cole, who lifted the trophy after a bowl-out against Bamford Fieldhouse, Tom Sephton and Paul Park are the only players from that side to have played in this year’s semi-final win at Bradshaw, but it’s a success which has become part of the club’s DNA.

The skipper said: “It’s a huge day, and something the club has been working towards for a number of years.

“We’ve been in three of the last four semis, so it’s a bit disappointing not to play in a few more of the finals.

“There’s plenty of members travelling over on buses, and making their own way there, so it should be really good as a spectacle.

“Every year, we want to go deep in as many competitions as we can. We want to come out of the season with a trophy.”

Standing in their way are a Longridge side who got the better of Ormskirk in last year’s final, but who have lost two out of two to Northern in two meetings this season.

In the local group of the National Club Championship in June, Tyler McGladdery’s 94 from 69 balls made short work of a chase of 195; earlier, the Preston side fell two runs short of a DLS target in the area semi of the Vitality Club T20.

Longridge’s South African Matt de Villiers has topped 1,000 runs in all competitions this year, along with his 36 wickets, while Caleb Bradford’s 55 scalps have come at an average of 11. 

The side sit fourth in the Northern Premier League, itself a limited overs competition, so they have plenty of experience in the format.

“They’re obviously a really good side,” said Cole of Sunday’s opponents. “They’ve got a good bowling attack and have played a lot of cup cricket over the past few years.

“You don’t take anyone for granted at this level, especially the holders of the competition.”

Northern’s own league ambitions have fallen by the wayside this year. In his first season with the club, McGladdery is one boundary away from topping 1,000 in the league for the second year running – his runs at the top of the order have compensated for the loss through injury of Chris Laker and Andrew Clarke.

But it’s been in the other half where Cole’s side have struggled a bit, compared with the two sides above them. They’ve bowled the opposition out six times in 16 playable games, while Leigh and Ormskirk have managed 12 and 11 respectively.

Sephton has been his usual self, topping the league’s wicket charts with 46, but none of his team-mates has come close. Ormskirk have four bowlers who’ve taken at least 30, and a total of eight individual five-fors – Sephton’s three are the only such milestones for Northern in the league this year.

Saturday’s draw at Formby – their fifth of the season, more than any other Premier Division side – was a case in point. McGladdery’s 88 helped Cole declare on 248/8, batting points in the bag, but after Sephton and Dan Wilson made inroads, the hosts’ middle order just dropped anchor.

Cole admitted: “It’s different on a Sunday when it’s win-or-lose cricket, but Saturdays have been frustrating.

“We’ve walked into a couple of good wickets and it’s been hard to force games, but that’s the joys of timed cricket and everyone knows those sorts of challenges.

“We’re quite disappointed that we’ve not competed enough in the league, but going deep in the national competitions and getting to the Lancashire Cup final mean it’s been a pretty successful season so far.”

It could have been more so. Northern were unhappy with the way the ECHO Cup problem was resolved, with them conceding their quarter-final against Birkenhead Park due to a clash with the T20 area finals.

The management committee of the Comp, which runs the ECHO Cup, believes there was no alternative but to insist finals day take place on August 13. 

Northern’s quarter-final was scheduled for the Friday evening just two days before, and allowing a postponement had they qualified would have affected the preparations made by host club Upton, as well as by the other competing teams. 

Players had rearranged holidays so they could take part on the scheduled day – the lack of a postponement has annoyed a lot of people, but a postponement would have done so as well.

But Cole insists a bit more foresight and flexibility could have saved the day.

He said: “We moved Heaven and Earth to make sure we had a chance of playing in the quarter-final, and if we’d won, we’d have wanted a fair crack of the whip.

“There were six weeks of the season left, and the logical thing would have been to delay it for a week if we’d won on the Friday.

“We understand Upton had everything in place. But I think it’s really poor that a team that’s representing the league in national competitions has to pull out of a local competition, when there were other things that could have happened to make sure finals day could go ahead without being compromised.

“It’s a great club and it sounds like it was a great day – it was just disappointing that we weren’t there to compete in it.

“We want something in place so this won’t happen again. Without that, we are going to consider our position when it comes to entering the ECHO Cup moving forward.”