50 Overs Semi Finals 2024

Berkshire can expect to face a very different Cheshire side to the one they beat on Tuesday when they face a quick re-match in Sunday’s National Counties Trophy semi-final at Alderley Edge.

Berkshire’s three wickets win in the Durant Cricket National Counties Championship at Nantwich put them within touching distance of the Western Division One title.

They will switch their attention back to 50 overs cricket on Sunday as they attempt to extend their record-breaking run in the Trophy to a fifth successive title with a Cheshire side eager for revenge standing in their way of another final at Wormsley later this month.

“I think we were slightly disappointed to lose from the position we were in at 4.30 on Monday evening. We pretty much had them on the ropes but their spinners bowled really well in that final session,” said Cheshire captain/coach Harry Dearden.

“In the end it was a good day of cricket. After our big defeat against Oxfordshire, it was nice to take a team close and to show what we are capable of.

“We’ve also done well against Cheshire in the Championship over the last couple of seasons as we beat tham at Nantwich two years ago and we were well-placed down there last year when it rained.

“But we will probably have quite a different side that played at Nantwich to the one that will play on Sunday. We back ourselves especially in the white ball formats. We have some very good white ball cricketers and We are really looking forward to Sunday.

“We have had some very good results in last couple of white ball games so we are going in fully prepared and trying to beat the defending champions.

“We are going through a transitional period at the moment with some lads moving on and some lads not playing.

“But I’m glad that a lot of the lads have made themselves available for the Trophy. It’s great because it shows that they regard the competition as being very important.”

Dearden was one of only five players who faced Berkshire this week who also played in their quarter-final victory over Devon at Oxton.

Since then Cheshire have beaten Derbyshire in a 50 overs Showcase Match despite having to field a weakened side because of club commitments. Rob Sehmi, Nick Anderson, Steven Green and Andrew Jackson all missed that match but are expected to return for the semi-final.

But Cheshire will be missing all-rounder Rob Lord who played in their group matches against Dorset and Hertfordshire but who has now been recruited by Nottinghamshire for their Metro Bank Cup campaign.

Lord has become the eighth Cheshire player currently contracted to a first-class county alongside Ben Aitchison (Derbyshire), Ben Gibbon and Rob Jones (Worcestershire), Danny Lamb (Sussex), Charlie Barnard (Lancashire) and Northamptonshire pair Jack White and Michael Finan.

Cheshire are rightly proud of their record Losing some of their best players to the first-class game even though it does cause them selection issues.

“Selfishly, it can be slightly annoying but that’s what National Counties cricket is for; to produce those type of players who move on to the first-class game,” Dearden said.

“We are very happy for all those lads. It’s great if they can do that and make a difference at first-class level.”

Dearden himself had six seasons of first-class cricket with Leicestershire before he returned to Cheshire two years ago.

He has now taken on responsibility for coaching them in white ball cricket in addition to captaining in both the Championship and Trophy.

“I really enjoy it. I would like to be doing a bit better with my performances but I’m trying to bring a little bit of balance to the side with both my batting and bowling,” he said.

“Its been a very interesting season. It’s very full on, especially with three day cricket and 50 overs being played together. But I have really enjoyed it and hopefully I can carry on.”

In addition to his cricket commitments – he also plays for Oxton in the Cheshire County League – Dearden has a busy day job as an alternative provision mentor with a company who develop coaching skills to help grow confidence and self-esteem in children.

“I work for a company who are mentors to kids who are in foster care or kids who have been through trauma or who are struggling in schools for all sorts of different of reasons,” he said

“We work with them through sport. It can be any sport football, cricket, badminton - I even tried my hand at gymnastics this year. I had to try but I wasn’t very good.

“It’s a very good job to have. It gives me a lot of perspective and I think it helps with my coaching. You appreciate that there are a lot of people worse off than I am and especially as we are as cricketers.

“Having got beaten by Berkshire on Tuesday, on Wednesday morning I was at a summer camp with 18 kids. So that brings you back down to reality and keeps you level.”

Sunday’s semi-final will be only the second meeting between Cheshire and Berkshire in the Trophy with the first, at Cheadle Hulme in 2004, being won by Berkshire on a bowl-out after rain prevented any play.

Cheshire will hope for better weather this weekend, not least because they were forced to switch the T20 double-header against Northumberland and the Trophy match against Hertfordshire earlier this season to other grounds because Alderley Edge was waterlogged.

National Counties Trophy semi-finals

Sunday August 4 (11am)

Alderley Edge: Cheshire v Berkshire

Great Witchingham: Norfolk v Cambridgeshire.