Staffordshire captain James Kettleborough has hailed the impact Dan Lincoln has had since he made his surprise move from Berkshire on the eve of the new National Counties season.

Staffordshire moved quickly to sign Lincoln after he announced his departure from Berkshire having helped them to win 12 titles across the three formats in a 14-year career, including four as their captain.

Staffordshire have not only acquired one of the most destructive batters on the National Counties circuit, but also a respected leadership figure.

“Signing Dan is not something we had planned for but when the opportunity arose we had a couple of pretty serious conversations in a short space of time and then things moved very quickly,” Kettleborough said.“

By that time of year most counties have their squads in order and also have a pretty good idea what their starting eleven is going to look like and we were no different.

“The timing of it was one thing but just the stature of Dan as a player and his record, his  loyalty to Berkshire it all speaks for itself.

“I don’t think that any county in the country would have thought about trying to acquire Dan over the winter. Everone’s perception was that he was Berkshire through and through.

“If you look around the country there is probably a handful of players who you look at and say: ‘I would love to have him in our side’ but they are fully committed to other home counties.

“Dan fell into that category but when the opportunity arose we wanted to try and make the most of that opportunity which was presented to us.

“He’s fitted in brilliantly. First and foremost he’s bought into the environment we have got but also the value he has brought is second to none.

“He doesn’t always say loads but when he does speak people listen.“

At times that’s been brilliant for me and our coach Chris Millward to have another voice to speak to the group, Although sometimes the messaging will be exactly the same as what me or Chris are saying, hearing it from someone else and someone with Dan’s experience and the success he has had, sometimes the players take that on board a little bit more.

“That’s something that we really want to utilise. He has come in and filled a leadership role immediately which is exactly what I spoke to him about beforehand.

“When you have someone who has had so much success both as a player and as a leader you would be silly not to capitalise on that.

“Dan has bought in. He gets on with the lads really well and we are really pleased to have him on board.”

Lincoln’s change of counties has meant increased travel for him and some long journeys that he has to make alone on Saturday evenings having finished a league match with High Wycombe in the Home Counties Premier League.

Lincoln has already experienced the first of two long hauls journeys to Northumberland this season and he will have the opportunity to explore the delights of the service stations on the M5 and M6 this weekend as Staffordshire head to Carlisle for a NV Play National Counties Trophy quarter-final against Cumbria. They are also scheduled to make the same journey for a T20 double-header next month.

A heavy defeat by Norfolk at West Bromwich Dartmouth in Lincoln’s debut match cost Staffordshire a home Trophy quarter-final but they won their next three group matches including what amounted to an eliminator against Lincolnshire at Bignall End three weeks ago.

“We didn’t quite start as we wanted to with a fairly ordinary performance against Norfolk but I think since then we’ve turned a real corner,” Kettleborough said.

“We certainly feel confident in the way we are playing and we have put in some really good performances across both white ball formats already.

“We picked up our first loss in the T20 last week at Shropshire but every side has got players who chance their arm and when they come off they can influence matches.

“Shropshire had that in game two but it could have gone very differently like it was in the first game and gone the other way.

“We are thoroughly confident about what we are doing and happy with where we are at. We are playing knockout cricket this weekend, we are top of our T20 group at the moment and I don’t know what more we could ask for.”

Staffordshire are without Joe Hawkins, who has a Second XI Championship match with Derbyshire starting on Monday, and Reeve Evitts who is unavailable.

Tom Moulton and Callum Leese, neither of whom has played this season, come into the squad.

Cumbria welcome back captain Michael Slack from injury for the first time since the opening day of the season. He comes in for Stan McAlindon.

Norfolk, who topped Staffordshire’s group, host Cheshire, runners-up in Cumbria’s, at Sprowston.

Freddie Fairey, with two half-centuries in the four group matches, is unavailable but Arthur Wilcox returns from university commitments.

Sunday’s game is a re-match of the 2024 Trophy final at Wormsley which Norfolk won by six wickets.

Cheshire have recalled Neston batter Matt Strong for his first county appearance in three years and give a debut to Didsbury off-spinner Will Street.

Berkshire needed a one wicket win over Wiltshire at Warminster to preserve their record of having qualified for the knockout stages of the competition every year since 2016.

They now face Buckinghamshire in Sunday’s quarter-final at High Wycombe and have included batter Will Hamilton in their squad.

Hamilton, another product of Berkshire’s youth system, made his senior debut in the T20 double-header against Hampshire Second XI last month but has yet to play competitive cricket.

Batter Jonny Connell and left-arm wrist spinner Nilesh Bhandari both return from playing for Hampshire’s second team in midweek.

Josh Lincoln, Dan’s younger brother, who also left Berkshire just before the start of the season, will face his former county having made a successful start to his Buckinghamshire career.

Former Herefordshire captain Matt Pardoe, who was unavailable for last week’s T20s against Bedfordshire, returns along with all-rounder Ed Bragg.

Northamptonshire batter Aadi Sharma is again available to Buckinghamshire, his native county, this weekend.

Wiltshire return to Warminster for their quarter-final against Oxfordshire with opening batter Jack Mynott, who was unavailable for last week’s T20 matches against Cornwall, back in the side.

Oxford UCCE seamer Sam Freestone is a competition debutant having impressed in T20 cricket.

Oxfordshire have included 15-year-old batter Evan Cowley for his Trophy debut after he made a half-century in his first outing for the county against Wales NC in a T20 match last Sunday.

Tristan Rossouw and Tom Davis also come into the side but Harrison Ward, who captained Oxfordshire in all four of their group matches is on Vitality Blast duty with Sussex.

*Bedfordshire went down to a 76 runs defeat against Derbyshire in a T20 Showcase contest at Dunstable on Friday.

Derbyshire included a strong contingent of National Counties graduates in Aneurin Donald (Wales NC), Martin Andersson (Berkshire), Amrit Basra (Bedfordshire), Ben Aitchison (Cheshire) and Rory Haydon (Staffordshire) – and banked their second Showcase win of the season following victory over Cheshire at Nantwich two weeks ago.

Andersson made 74 from 30 balls before he retired out having shared partnerships of 57 for the first wicket with Donald (23) and 51 for the second with Caleb Jewell (40).

Jake Tarling, with three for 42, and Max Hunt (two for 40) managed to peg Derbyshire back and restricted the first-class county to 205 for seven with Basra falling to Tarling for six.

But Bedfordshire struggled against an attack that has seen plenty of T20 action in the Vitality Blast recently and were soon in trouble at 33 for four.

They were rescued by Yousaf Bin Naeem, guesting from Derbyshire, and Nabil Moughal, who added 45 for the fifth wicket. Naeem, the son of former Cornwall all-rounder Naeem Akhtar, was run out by Wayne Madsen for 42 from 24 balls, but Moughal remained unbeaten for a dogged 32 not out as Bedfordshire replied with 129 for nine.

Haydon, who recently claimed his maiden ten wicket match haul for Derbyshire in the County Championship defeat by Kent at Canterbury, took two for 18 in three overs, his wickets coming in successive balls in his final over when he bowled Oscar Phillips and James Anson.

NV Play National Counties Trophy quarter-finals

Sunday June 7 (11am)

Carlisle: Cumbria v Staffordshire

Sprowston: Norfolk v Cheshire

Warminster: Wiltshire v Oxfordshire

High Wycombe: Buckinghamshire v Berkshire

Showcase match Friday June 5

Dunstable: Derbyshire 205-7 (Martin Andersson 74, Caleb Jewell 40, Jake Tarling 3-42), Bedfordshire 129-9 (Yousaf Bin Naeem 42). Derbyshire won by 76 runs.