Twelve sides remain in this season’s National Counties T20  but only four will still be standing after the competition enters the knockout stages on Sunday.

This will be the third year that the Super 12s have been used to determine which four counties will progress to Finals Day at Wormsley on August 30 but there is a tweak to the format this season.

Instead of a round-robin involving all the counties at the four Super 12s venues, the four group winners will, in addition to hosting one of the events, also progress straight to the final on the day – in effect a national quarter-final.

There the host counties will meet the winners of an eliminator earlier in the day involving sides who finished second or third in their groups earlier in the season.

Suffolk head to Wargrave for the second year running hoping for more success than 12 months ago when they were beaten by both Berkshire and Dorset. This time they face Cornwall in the eliminator which will be the first time that the counties have met in any National Counties competition.

Suffolk will give a late fitness test to former Essex batter Feroze Khushi who missed the NCCA Cluberly Championship defeat by Buckinghamshire earlier in the week because of a back injury.

Cornwall have named the same 12-man squad that shared the honours with Devon at Werrington in their last group double-header. Tom Orpe played in the first match, which Cornwall won, and Ellis Whiteford in the second, won by Devon.

Berkshire await the winners of the Suffolk v Cornwall match but will be missing Johnny Connell, their T20 captain, because of his commitments with Somerset in the Metro Bank Cup.

Rhys Lewis will lead Berkshire, as he did in the Championship draw with Devon earlier in the week, with batter Matt Dalrymple coming into the 12-man squad.

Staffordshire, who won the T20 in 2023, have included seamer Jake Garlick back from Metro Bank Cup duty with Warwickshire in their 12-man squad for the Super 12s they host at Wolverhampton.

Staffordshire, who will meet either Lincolnshire or Cheshire in the final, also have Derbyshire players past and present, Nils Priestley and Joe Hawkins, along with former Herefordshire all-rounder Ollie Walker available.

Staffordshire have already played Cheshire in this season’s T20 competition, beating them twice at Burslem in June on their way to topping their group.

Lincolnshire are missing Nottinghamshire pair Joe Pocklington and Ben Martindale, who played in their double-header against Cambridgeshire.

Leg-spinner Seamus Nazir, fresh from a maiden five wicket haul in the Championship victory over Bedfordshire, is a potential T20 debutant with batters Ben Wright , Pranav Pothula and George Woods also included in a 12-man squad.

Cheshire give a debut to Chester Boughton Hall batter Noah Vickery and have recalled batter Alfie Usher who helped them beat Northumberland twice in their last group double-header to clinch a Super 12s place.

Devon will make their first appearance in the knockout stages since 2018 and also their Super 12s debut having secured home advantage and a place in the final at Exeter where they will face either Buckinghamshire or Wiltshire.

Devon include batter Dan Pyle in their T20 squad for the first time this season following his recovery from injury and welcome back all-rounders Sam Read and Callum Harvey who missed their final double-header against Cornwall at the group stage.

Wiltshire, who won one and lost one in a group double-header with Devon at the start of their campaign, have called up batters Olli Brown and Jack Mynott in place of Will Naish and Archie Fairfax-Ross.

Buckinghamshire are missing batters Rehaan Edavalath and Aadi Sharma who helped them beat Wales NC twice at Marlow in their last group double-header. They are on Metro Bank Cup duty with Worcestershire and Northamptonshire respectively this weekend so Buckinghamshire have called up Teddy Fleming and Ryan Friend along with Rhys Nicholas and Matthew Pannett.

Defending champions Norfolk host the other Super 12s at Sprowston where they will face either Shropshire or Bedfordshire for a place at Finals Day.

Norfolk have made two changes to the side which beat Cumbria in the Championship on Tuesday with batter Freddie Fairey and seamer Joe Everett returning in place of Enoch Uthayarajan and Nathan Muggeridge.

Norfolk will have ten of the side which beat Dorset by 12 runs in last season’s final on the field at Sprowston, the exception being captain Sam Arthurton who missed Finals Day having suffered an ankle injury playing club cricket the day before.

Shropshire will be captained by former Worcestershire batter Tom Fell who led them in the absence of the injured Charlie Home in the group stages. Home has since recovered from a broken finger and has captained Shropshire in their three Championship matches this season but he is not included in the squad that will travel to Sprowston.

Shropshire have named a much-changed side to the one which faced Cheshire in the Championship earlier in the week with Shifnal pair Rahul Kaushal and Jack Twigger included for the first time this season and Andre Bradford, spinners Connor Marshall and Sam Wisniewski and seamers Ravan Chahal and Ollie Smith all recalled.

Bedfordshire, who last played Shropshire in any competition in 2009, are missing Gus Miller, who played in their final group double-header against Berkshire at Luton and who has since made his maiden List A century for Northamptonshire.

Zaid Faleel, James Anson and Oscar Phillips return with all-rounder Jake Tarling again leading the side.

NATIONAL COUNTIES T20

Super 12s

Sunday August 9

Wolverhampton. Eliminator (11am): Lincolnshire v Cheshire. Final (3pm): Staffordshire v Lincolnshire or Cheshire.

Sprowston. Eliminator (11am): Shropshire v Bedfordshire. Final (3pm): Norfolk v Shropshire or Bedfordshire.

Wargrave. Eliminator (11am): Cornwall v Suffolk. Final (3pm): Berkshire v Cornwall or Suffolk.

Exeter: Eliminator (11am): Buckinghamshire v Wiltshire. Final (3pm) Devon v Buckinghamshire or Wiltshire. 

Finals Day

Sunday August 30

Wormsley.