The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 5 letter word COUNTY MATCH
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
C
O
U
N
T
Y
M
A
T
C
H
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Pitched battle that’s first-class perhaps" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case pitched battle that’s first-class perhaps = county match.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.