NCCA T20 Competition Review
20 JUNE 2026 |
Written by Paul Bolton |
| Image of Joe Pocklington | Image courtesy of: Roger Byrne |
Pocklington is no stranger to Lincolnshire as he was a regular in their side for three seasons before he was signed by Nottinghamshire on an initial short-term contract for last summer’s Metro Bank Cup campaign.
If Martindale plays against Cambridgeshire it will be his National Counties debut although he will be familiar to his new team-mates as he made a half-century for Nottinghamshire when they beat Lincolnshire in a 50-overs Showcase match at Cleethorpes two weeks ago.
As Pocklington and Martindale are not required by Nottinghamshire for their Rothesay County Championship match against Essex they have been made available to Lincolnshire and have been included in a 13-man squad.
Lincolnshire complete their Group Two programme on Sunday and still have work to do if they are cement a top three place to qualify for the Super 12s stage of the competition. Having won three of their first four match they were beaten twice by Suffolk at Hadleigh last weekend.
Cambridgeshire have also included a contracted Nottinghamshire player, former England Under-19 all-rounder Travis Holland, in their squad for his National Counties debut. Batter Will Routledge is set for his first T20 appearances of the season.
Norfolk, the holders and Group Two leaders, host Suffolk in an East Anglia derby at Sprowston and welcome back opening batter Freddie Fairey who missed their two wins over Hertfordshire last Sunday through illness.
In-form Swardeston batter Josh Wicks is included in a 12-man squad and will make his seasonal and competition debuts if he features in either match. Brett Stolworthy is unavailable.
Josh Cantrell and Jacob Marston return for Suffolk in place of the unavailable Alex Oxley and Bobby East who made his debut as Marston’s deputy in the first match against Lincolnshire last week.
Herefordshire will have three brothers in their team for the first time since they joined the National Counties – then Minor Counties – in 1992 in their double-header with Cornwall at Eastnor in Group Four.
Joel, Ollie and Toby Cox have all appeared for the county before but this is the first time that the brothers from Ombersley will have played together for Herefordshire.
They are among five changes to the side beaten twice by Devon last week with off-spinning all-rounder Imaad Mahmood called up for his first appearance of the season and contracted Worcestershire batter Seth Essenhigh and seamer Theo Barker recalled.
Cornwall have made five changes to the side that beat Dorset twice last week with former Kent all-rounder Alex Blake, Will MacVicar, Elliot Hooper, Tom Orpe and Ryan Tonkin all returning.
Teenager Logan Curnow retains his place in the 12-man squad but there is no place for his father Neil, who received a late call-up last week for his first county appearance in eight years. It was the first time that Cornwall had fielded a father and son in the same side in any competition.
Dorset will give debuts to Chalke Valley batter Joe Weld and former Hampshire Academy seamer Ethan Martin in their matches against Wiltshire at Wimborne.
Wiltshire have called up batter Oli Brown, who played for their Under-18s team last season, for his senior debut in place of Alfie Johnson. Brown has been playing for Gloucestershire Under-18s in recent weeks.
There could be a new leader of Group One on Sunday evening as Staffordshire, the current pacesetters, sit out this round of matches.
Shropshire and Northumberland, the teams immediately below Staffordshire, meet in a double-header at Wellington which will complete Shropshire’s group programme.
Andre Bradford – who will keep wicket – and former Derbyshire all-rounder Connor Marshall return for Shropshire who completed an important double over Cumbria last time out. Morgan Ward and Sam Wisniewski make miss out this week.
Northumberland make one change to the side that completed a double over Cumbria last time out with batter Mohsin Mukhtar replacing Ross Greenwell. Durham staff man Robbie Bowman is again available to Northumberland.
Cheshire and Cumbria meet in the other Group One double-header at Nantwich which will be their second of three scheduled meetings this season.
Cumbria beat Cheshire in a low-scoring group match in the NV Play National Counties Trophy at Cockermouth last month and the sides will meet again in the semi-finals of that competition at Keswick on June 28.
Batter Ed Wade, who made two appearances for Cheshire in last year’s NCCA Cluberly Championship, will make his debut for Cumbria having played in all their Development XI matches this season.
Millom batter Callum High, a product of Cumbria’s pathway programme, is a potential National Counties debutant and is one of five teenagers in the squad.
Cheshire give debuts to Archie Barraclough, a seamer who plays his club cricket over the Pennines for Bradford & Bingley, and Timperley quick bowler Zach Thompson.
Will Perry will captain in the absence of Harry Dearden.
Berkshire take county cricket to Wokingham for the first time for their Group Three matches against Buckinghamshire.
Berkshire have added all-rounder Eddie Campion to the side which beat Wales NC twice last week to go top of a tightly-clustered group on superior net run rate.
Buckinghamshire, who will be looking for revenge after suffering a heavy defeat at Berkshire’s hands in the Trophy quarter-final at High Wycombe two weeks ago, welcome back George Harvey who missed last week’s wins over Oxfordshire. Stony Stratford wicketkeeper Charlie Oldershaw, who made his debut last week, retains his place in a 12-man squad.
Oxfordshire complete their group programme with a double-header against Bedfordshire at Didcot where, having lost five of their first six matches, they will be eliminated if they lose another.
They have made five changes to the side beaten twice by Buckinghamshire, three of whom will be making their National Counties debuts.
They include seam bowler Mudasir Mian, who played for Kent in a pre-season match against Essex last year and who is part of the ACE Academy. Batter Louie Lawrence and 17-year-old wicketkeeper/batter Ollie Offwood are both on the Sussex Academy although Offwood, who is still a pupil at Radley College, is another product of Oxfordshire’s pathway system.
Batter Arthur Hanson makes his seasonal debut and Nikhil Nair and leg-spinner Henry Welch are recalled.
Bedfordshire have made just one change to the side that faced Buckinghamshire three weeks ago with slow left-armer Max Hunt replacing seamer James Anson.
National Counties T20
Sunday June 21 (11am)
Group One
Nantwich: Cheshire v Cumbria.
Wellington: Shropshire v Northumberland.
Group Two
Barton Town CC: Lincolnshire v Cambridgeshire.
Sprowston: Norfolk v Suffolk.
Group Three
Wokingham: Berkshire v Buckinghamshire.
Didcot: Oxfordshire v Bedfordshire.
Group Four
Wimborne: Dorset v Wiltshire.
Eastnor: Herefordshire v Cornwall.