Wiltshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Staffordshire secured their places in the quarter-finals of the NV Play National Counties Trophy with victories in the final round of group matches.

Although rain interrupted play in all four of the groups, all eight matches were completed with Group Three being decided on net run rate after Wiltshire, Berkshire and Devon each finished with three wins and six points on a day of fluctuating fortunes.

Devon needed to beat Hertfordshire at Sidmouth to have any chance of progressing to the last eight and they achieved that with an eight runs win under the DLS method.

Attention then switched to Warminster where a win for Wiltshire over Berkshire would have secured Devon’s place in the quarter-finals.

When Berkshire lost their ninth wicket they were still 21 short of a revised target of 163 in 36 overs and facing the prospect of failing to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 2016. But Toby Greatwood, the former Middlesex seamer, kept his nerve and guided Berkshire to a jittery win by making 41 not out from 37 balls with the winning boundary coming with ten balls to spare.

Earlier Alfie Johnson, who is on Gloucestershire’s staff, top-scored with 54 not out to lift Wiltshire to 162 for nine after they had limped to 91 for seven but there was little support as no other batter reached 20.

Seamer Charlie Dunnett took four wickets and followed up with 47 before he became one of five victims for Archie Pascoe whose five for 15 were Wiltshire’s fourth best figures in the competition.

After Greatwood had performed his rescue act the calculators came out. Wiltshire were confirmed as Group Three winners with a net run rate of 1.18 with Berkshire edging out Devon for second place with a superior net run-rate of 0.21.

Devon’s interrupted match was low-scoring with Ben Privett (46) and Seb Linnitt (38 not out) the main contributors to a total of 158 for six in 35 overs.

Hertfordshire’s target was adjusted to 161 in 35 overs and they appeared to be pacing their chase nicely when debutant Ed Hales (28) and Dominic Chatfield (26) opened with a partnership of 48. But that quickly became 61 for five as slow left-armer Callum Harvey (three for seven) unpicked the middle order.

Chinmay Mullapudi (20) and Tom Arnold (28) led the recovery but it was not enough to save Hertfordshire from a fourth straight defeay.Oxfordshire joined Buckinghamshire as the qualifiers from Group Four with an emphatic 118 runs victory over Wales NC at Pontarddulais.

Oxfordshire captain and contracted Sussex batter Harrison Ward led the way with a brilliant century from just 73 balls with Luke Maslen (75) sharing a partnership of 150 which equalled the county’s record for the third wicket.

Ward struck nine four and four sixes in his first Trophy hundred which gave him a full hand of centuries in the three National Counties competitions. He was dismissed eight balls after he reached the landmark with contracted Glamorgan slow left-armer Romano Franco pegging back Oxfordshire with three for 47.

Callum Nicholls, another Glamorgan player, led Wales’ pursuit of a target of 287 with 63 but the innings fell away quickly with the last five wickets going down for 20 with Tom Hinley, released by Worcestershire last season, taking four for 19 with his left-arm wrist spin.

Oxfordshire’s victory ended Wales’ quarter-final hopes and also those of Cornwall who went down by two wickets to Buckinghamshire.

Cornwall needed to win and Oxfordshire to lose if they were to have any hope of progressing and, thanks to a half-century from captain Paul Smith, they were still in the quarter-final shake-up at the half-way stage at Tring.

Seamer Archie Dodds took a career-best four for 52 for Buckinghamshire and his brother, Billy, led their chase with his competition-best 40. Buckinghamshire stuttered against former Sussex and Kent left-arm spinner Elliot Hooper (three for 29) and off-spinner Elliot Whiteford (three for 49) but George Harvey steered them to a fourth straight win with an over to spare with 30 not out from 32 balls.

Staffordshire progressed as runners-up in Group Two after they beat Lincolnshire by 10 runs (DLS) in what became an eliminator at Bignall End.

Former Berkshire captain Dan Lincoln pummelled 46 from 27 balls – an innings that contained six sixes – to lift Staffordshire to 186 for five in 29 overs after rain twice interrupted their innings.

Lincolnshire were set a stiff revised target of 226 from 29 overs but they went down with all guns blazing thanks to former Leicestershire batter Sam Evans (48), captain Nic Keast (45) and Pranav Pothula (38).

But four wickets from former Herefordshire all-rounder Ollie Walker disrupted Lincolnshire’s progress and secured a third successive win for Staffordshire.

Norfolk made it four wins from four to win Group Two and clinch a home quarter-final on June 7 thanks to a superb 94 not out from Ben Wilcox which snatched an unlikely two wickets win over Bedfordshire at Sprowston.

Norfolk appeared to be heading for defeat when they lost four wickets for five runs in a mid-innings collapse after Sam Arthurton (61) and Freddie Fairey (53) had opened with a partnership of 86. But Wilcox farmed the strike intelligently and steered Norfolk to an unlikely victory with seven fours and five sixes in his 74-ball innings.

Norfolk needed 20 from the last two overs but they got home with five balls to spare after Wilcox took 16 from Henry Redmayne’s last three balls.

Bedfordshire’s defeat was particularly hard on Nabil Moughal who produced career-best performances with bat and ball. First Moughal made 127, his first century for Bedfordshire in any competition, to take them to 269 for six then he took four for 36 with his left-arm spin having taken just two wickets in his previous 14 matches in the competition.

Moughal, who struck eight fours and three sixes in his 140-ball innings, shared a second wicket partnership of 127 with Jamie Dunk (68) but his efforts were eclipsed by Wilcox.

Cumbria topped Group One with a six wickets victory under the DLS method over Cheshire at Keswick in the match most badly affected by rain. Both sides had already qualified for the quarter-finals so this match decided who would top the group and have home advantage in the quarter-finals.

A delayed start meant it was first reduced to a 35 overs-a-side contest then to 32 overs after Cheshire had laboured to 118 for nine with slow left-armer Freddie Fallows taking three for 19.

Cumbria’s adjusted target was 118 in 32 overs but that became 114 in 30 overs and, eventually, 91 in 24 overs after further stoppages.

Thanks to Ben Walkden’s unbeaten 32 they got home with nine balls to spare and will now host Staffordshire.

The day’s closest game was in the only dead rubber in the other Group One match at Mildenhall where Suffolk tied with Cambridgeshire.

Half-centuries from Tom Cullen (61) and Lee Thomason (57) took Cambridgeshire to 228 for seven before Suffolk responded with what looked like being match-winning innings from Darren Ironside (82) and former Essex man Feroze Khushi (70). But what looked like being a perfectly paced chase became a scramble as Alex Oxley lost the strike for nine of the last 12 deliveries and Jack Loveday bowled a nerveless penultimate over in which he conceded just four runs.

Suffolk managed to get Oxley back on strike for the last ball of the match but, needing to clear the ropes to win the game, he managed only a four and finished unbeaten on 43. 

NV Play National Counties Trophy

Group One

Keswick: Cheshire 122-9 (Freddie Fallows 3-19), Cumbria 93-4. Cumbria won by six wickets (DLS). Mildenhall: Cambridgeshire 228-7 (Tom Cullen 61, Lee Thomason 57), Suffolk 228-5 (Darren Ironside 82, Feroze Khushi 70). Match tied.

Group Two

Sprowston: Bedfordshire 269-6 (Nabil Moughal 127, Jamie Dunk 68), Norfolk 270-8 (Ben Wilcox 94 not out, Sam Arthurton 61, Freddie Fairey 53, Nabil Moughal 4-36). Norfolk won by two wickets.Bignall End: Staffordshire 186-5 (Dan Lincoln 46), Lincolnshire 215-8 (Sam Evans 48, Nic Keast 45, Ollie Walker 4-43). Staffordshire won by 10 runs (DLS).

Group Three

Warminster: Wiltshire 162-9 (Alfie Johnson 54 not out, Charlie Dunnett 4-40), Berkshire 166-9 (Toby Greatwood 41 not out, Archie Pascoe 5-15). Berkshire won by one wicket (DLS).Sidmouth: Devon 158-6 (Ben Privett 46), Hertfordshire 152-9. Devon won by eight runs (DLS).

Group Four

Pontarddulais: Oxfordshire 286 (Harrison Ward 105, Luke Maslen 75), Wales NC 168 (Callum Nicholls 63, Tom Hinley 4-19). Oxfordshire won by 118 runs.mTring: Cornwall 210-9 (Paul Smith 67, Archie Dodds 4-52), Buckinghamshire 212-8. Buckinghamshire won by two wickets. 

Quarter-finals

June 7 – venues TBCCumbria v StaffordshireNorfolk v Cheshire Wiltshire v OxfordshireBuckinghamshire v Berkshire