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Gareth Berg will bring international coaching experience to National Counties cricket when he takes charge of Dorset for the first time on Sunday.

The former Middlesex, Hampshire and Northamptonshire all-rounder has been player/coach of Italy and has now taken over as Dorset’s Head of Performance.

He replaces Paul Lawrence who steered Dorset to two white ball finals last season, beating Shropshire in the final of the 50 overs Trophy to claim their first title in 37 years before going down to Norfolk in the final of the T20 competition at Wormsley.

Dorset also narrowly missed out on promotion in the NCCA Cluberly Championship, finishing one point behind Western Division Two champions Wiltshire after they were thwarted by Cheshire’s eighth wicket pair of Luke Young and Andy Selby at Chester Boughton Hall. Berg, who was present at T20 Finals Day, was appointed Dorset’s interim Head of Performance before Christmas before he was confirmed as full-time appointment last month.

His first match in charge is the opening match in Dorset’s defence of the NV Play National Counties Trophy against Cornwall in Group Four at Wimborne where they will play all their home matches this season.In addition to playing 19 T20 Internationals for Italy and combining playing with coaching them in the latter stages of his career, Berg made 152 first-class, 127 List A and 113 T20 appearances in a 16-year career.

The 45 year-old was born and raised in South Africa but is an Italian passport holder and first represented his adopted country in 2019. Berg is not the only new coach who will be in charge of a National Counties side this weekend.Former Herefordshire and Cornwall batter Sean Hooper has been appointed Head Coach of Herefordshire who start their Trophy campaign with a trip to Bovey Tracey to face Devon in Group Three.

Hooper played for Cornwall from 1985 to 1993 before spending the 1996 season with Herefordshire while he was playing for Stratford.He has since spent 17 years as Academy Director at Truro College as well as a stint as Chief Executive of the Cornwall Cricket Board and he still turns out regularly for Cornwall Over-50s.

Staffordshire face Norfolk at West Bromwich Dartmouth in Group Two with Chris Millward installed as their new Head Coach, Millward, who is also Staffordshire’s Head of Performance, succeeds Andy Carr who passed away last September after a brave battle against cancer just a week after he had stepped down from his coaching role.

Millward had deputised while Carr was having treatment and has now taken charge on a more permanent basis. Pete Wilshaw, the former Staffordshire all-rounder, has also been confirmed as Millward’s assistant, a role he had been doing last season. Meanwhile Cumbria have confirmed that experienced seam bowler Chris Wright will not be their professional this season.

The former Middlesex, Essex, Warwickshire and Leicestershire player, has played as a locum professional for Cumbria over the past three seasons and had signed to play more regularly for them after he retired from first-class cricket at the end of last season. But Wright has since joined Derbyshire as bowling coach which means that his availability for National Counties cricket would be severely restricted.Cumbria have signed former Cheshire batter Calum Rowe who will play his club cricket for Carlisle this summer after four years with Castleford.

Rowe is set to make his Cumbria debut in Sunday’s Group One opener against Shropshire, last season’s beaten finalists, at Bridgnorth.

NV PLAY NATIONAL COUNTIES TROPHY

Group One: Cambridgeshire v Cheshire (Peterborough), Shropshire v Cumbria (Bridgnorth).
Group Two: Northumberland v Bedfordshire (South Northumberland CC), Staffordshire v Norfolk (West Bromwich Dartmouth).
Group Three: Devon v Herefordshire (Bovey Tracey), Hertfordshire v Berkshire (Hitchin).
Group Four: Dorset v Cornwall (Wimborne), Wales NC v Buckinghamshire (Usk).