Hertfordshire seamer Sam Davis made a spectacular return to National Counties cricket after an absence of eight years in the T20 double-header against Cambridgeshire at the West Herts club in Watford.

Davis took six for 26 in the second match of the day, Hertfordshire’s record T20 figures and the second best anywhere in the history of the competition.

Davis moved ahead of Hertfordshire captain Ben Waring, who took five for 15 against Bedfordshire – also at West Herts – two years ago with only Oxfordshire’s Ollie Currill ahead of him in the all-time list with his record of seven for 12 against Cheshire in the semi-final at Tring in 2022.

Davis had warmed up by taking two for 22 in the first match of the day but Hertfordshire went down by seven runs after Ralph Hayward had made 57 not out on debut to take Cambridgeshire to 133 for eight.

Thanks to Davis, Hertfordshire restricted Cambridgeshire to 121 for nine in the second match and eased to a nine wickets win with Jacob Gordon (59 not out) and Archie Harrison (48 not out) seeing them home with an unbroken second wicket stand of 110.

Title holders Norfolk also had mixed fortunes against Lincolnshire at Sprowston in the other Group Two double-header where they lost the opener before bouncing back with an eight runs win in the second match.

They were beaten by five wickets in the opener after Amartya Kaul had taken four wickets to restrict Norfolk to 117 for nine. Lincolnshire got home with four balls to spare with Freddie Gosnell leading the chase with 48 and Pranav Pothula completing it with 34 not out.

But Norfolk looked more like reigning champions in the second match as captain Sam Arthurton (72) and Freddie Fairey (70) shared an opening partnership of 144, a record for any Norfolk wicket in the competition.

Arthurton and Fairey each struck eight fours and six with Arthurton’s innings spanning 44 balls and Fairey’s 62.

Nic Keast’s 76 from 42 balls gave Lincolnshire an excellent start to their chase and there were useful supporting innings from Sam Evans (24) and Pravan Pothula (34).

But seamer Callum Metcalf’s haul of three for 17 included the key wickets of Keast and former Leicestershire batter Evans and gave Norfolk two important points.

Herefordshire made the lowest total of the day – 96 – and suffered a double defeat against Dorset at Eastnor.

Slow left-armer Mo Abbas took four for 19 in the opener before Dorset captain Will Tripcony saw his side home by nine wickets with more than 10 overs to spare with 60 not out.

Herefordshire fared better second time around and their total of 206 for seven was their highest in the competition. For an hour-and-a-half it was also the highest total of the day but it was not enough to prevent Dorset securing a five wickets win with a ball to spare.

Captain Luke Tulacz’s 73 – his maiden half-century in the competition – with excellent supporting innings from Olly Cox (48) and Roshan Venkataraman (35) took Herefordshire to an imposing total.

But Tripcony completed a productive day by making a brisk 41, Abbas sustained the chase with 53 from 36 balls and shared a third wicket partnership of 63 with Joe Eckland (58 from 39 balls). Dylan Church finished the job with 35 not out from 16 balls including the winning four from the penultimate ball of James Rudge’s final over.

There was a win apiece for Devon and Wiltshire in the other Group Four double-header at Instow.

Devon held their nerve to win at low-scoring opener by two runs, successfully defending a total of 114 thanks to one of cricket’s more bizarre hat-tricks. Alfie Johnson, Sam Freestone and Archie Fairfax-Ross were run out in successive balls from Ben Privett’s chaotic final over which began with Wiltshire needing nine for victory with three wickets in hand.

Seb Linnitt, with 40 for Devon, and Tom Cheater with 35 for Wiltshire, were the only batters to reach 30.

Cheater followed up with a half-century in the second match but Wiltshire needed 42 not out from William Brown and a six from Johnson off Privett from the penultimate ball of the match to clinch a four wickets win.Rhys Lewis became the first Berkshire bowler to take five wickets in a T20 match in the 114 runs victory over Oxfordshire in the second match at Wargrave.

Lewis helped Berkshire to 191 for eight with a half century then took five for 30 to help dismiss Oxfordshire for 77, their lowest total in the competition.

Oxfordshire won the day’s opening match by two wickets in the opener with Julian Laird taking wickets – three for 22 with his left-arm spin – and scoring important runs to help them chase down a target of 181.

Hayden Rossouw (57) and Tom Hinley (34) played the substantial innings for Oxfordshire after Berkshire captain Johnny Connell, fresh from plundering a century against Sussex in a Showcase T20 match, had struck 43 from 13 balls at the start of the day.

Bedfordshire completed a double over Wales NC at Sudbrook where a 27 runs win in the opener was followed by an 11 runs success later in the day.Patrick Harrington’s half century took Bedfordshire to 158 for five in the opener with Rhodri Lewis – elder brother of Berkshire’s Rhys – taking a career-best four for 14 with his left-arm spin.

Cameron Hemp, back with Wales after two seasons with Buckinghamshire, launched the chase with 57 but slow left-armer Nabil Moughal took three for 25 to undermine the chase.

A half-century from Jamie Dunk took Bedfordshire to 149 for seven in the second match before Hemp launched the chase with 34 from 32 balls. But he departed in a collapse which saw the first five wickets go down for 20 in five overs with slow left-armer Max Hunt taking three for 16.

Sami Khan (43 not out) and Zac Williams shared an unbeaten seventh wicket partnership of 56 but Wales fell short.

Staffordshire and Northumberland were involved in just the second tie in the competition’s history in the second match at Stone.

Ross Whitfield’s 73 took Northumberland to 170 for seven and Staffordshire’s chase stuttered with Dan Lincoln (32), Nils Priestley (32)  and Ollie Walker (20) playing useful cameos.

Matthew Morris then played what looked like being the match-winning innings – 41 from 27 balls – but when he was bowled by Sean Tindale, Staffordshire were still two runs short of Northumberland’s total. Jake Garlick took a single from the first ball he faced, Sam Keeling-Wright was unable to score of the next but a single off the last ball of the match secured the tie.

Staffordshire had won the opening match comfortably by 45 runs with former Derbyshire all-rounder Priestley impressing with bat and ball, starting with a breezy 31 and following up with five for 27 with his left-arm spin to dismiss Northumberland for 114.

Lincoln’s aggressive 42 helped to take Staffordshire to 159 for six although former Durham all-rounder Jonny Bushnell took three wickets to check their progress.

Harry Crawshaw – another former Durham player – held Northumberland together with 45 Tindale’s 19 was the next highest score.

Priestley took three wickets in the second match to finish with combined figures of eight for 54 in the day but Ross Whitfield’s 73 was the centrepiece of Northumberland’s innings.

Honours were even in the other Group One match at Didsbury where Cheshire opened with an eight wickets win over Shropshire with Gennaro Reddy leading the run chase with 76 and Kevin Carroll completing it with an unbeaten 45 from 20 balls.

Former Worcestershire batter Tom Fell made 52 and Seb Scott 31 in Shropshire’s 160 for six.

Shropshire quickly turned the tables by easing to an eight wickets victory themselves in the second match.

Cheshire were dismissed for an inadequate 120 with Ollie Smith, who made his county debut in the opener, taking three for 15.

Opener Joe Johnson’s half century laid the platform for the successful run chase with Andre Bradford’s 36 not out seeing Shropshire home with 29 balls to spare.

National Counties T20

Group One

Didsbury. Match one: Shropshire 160-6 (Tom Fell 52), Cheshire 165-2 (Gennaro Reddy 76, Kevin Carroll 45 not out). Cheshire won by eight wickets.

Match Two:  Cheshire 120 (Ollie Smith 3-15), Shropshire 123-2 (Joe Johnson 52). Shropshire won by eight wickets.

Stone. Staffordshire 159-6 (Dan Lincoln 42, Jonny Bushnell 3-41), Northumberland 114 (Harry Crawshaw 45, Nils Priestley 5-27). Staffordshire won by 45 runs.

Match Two: Northumberland 170-7 (Ross Whitfield 73, Nils Priestley 3-27), Staffordshire 170-9 (Matthew Morris 41, Joe Stuart 3-17). Match Tied

Group Two

West Herts CC. Match One: Cambridgeshire 133-8 (Ralph Hayward 57 not out), Hertfordshire 126-8. Cambridgeshire won by seven runs.

Match Two: Cambridgeshire 121-9 (Sam Davis 6-26), Hertfordshire 122-1 (Jacob Gordon 59 not out, Archie Harrison 48 not out). Hertfordshire won by nine wickets.

Sprowston. Norfolk 117-9 (Amartya Kaul 4-13), Lincolnshire 120-5 (Freddie Gosnell 48). Lincolnshire won by five wickets.

Match Two: Norfolk 176-4 (Sam Arthurton 72, Freddie Fairey 70), Lincolnshire 168-5 (Nic Keast 76, Callum Metcalf 3-17). Norfolk won by eight runs.

Group Three

Sudbrook. Match One: Bedfordshire 158-5 (Patrick Harrington 61 not out, Rhodri Lewis 4-14), Wales NC 131-9 (Cameron Hemp 57). Bedfordshire won by 27  runs

Match Two: Bedfordshire 149-7 (Jamie Dunk 52 not out), Wales NC 138-6 (Sami Khan 43 not out, Max Hunt 3-16). Bedfordshire won by 11 runs.

Wargrave. Match One Berkshire 180-9 (Johnny Connell 43, Julian Laird 3-22, Zach Lion-Cachet 3-21), Oxfordshire 184-8  (Hayden Rossouw 57). Oxfordshire won by two wickets.

Match Two: Berkshire 191-8 (Rhys Lewis 53, Julian Laird 4-28), Oxfordshire 77 (Rhys Lewis 5-30). Berkshire won by 114 runs.

Group Four

Instow. Devon 114 (Seb Linnitt 40), Wiltshire 112. Devon won by two runs.

Match Two: Devon 154-6 (James Matravers 75), Wiltshire 157-6 (Tom Cheater 55, William Brown 42 not out). Wiltshire won by four wickets.

Eastnor. Herefordshire 96 (Mo Abbas 4-19), Dorset 100-1 (Will Tripcony 60 not out). Dorset won by nine wickets.

Match Two: Herefordshire 206-7 (Luke Tulacz 73, Olly Cox 48, James Brehaut 3-50), Dorset 210-5 (Joe Eckland 58, Mo Abbas 53, Will Tripcony 41). Dorset won by five wickets.