Kendall Hopes For Change Of Luck At Championship Final

Lincolnshire captain Joe Kendall is hoping for a change of luck before a ball is bowled when his side take on Berkshire in the National Counties Championship final at West Bromwich Dartmouth’s Sandwell Park ground from September 4 to 7.

Kendall lost the toss in all four of Lincolnshire’ Eastern Division One matches which meant that the opposition had the advantage of batting when the pitches were at their best.

Despite Kendall’s lack of success at the toss Lincolnshire finished top of the division with an unbeaten record of won two, drawn two with a last-day rearguard action at Manor Park last week denying Norfolk a place in the final.

“It hasn’t helped that I have lost every toss in the Championship game. There have not many teams who have won their group when they have lost every toss and had to bowl first in every game,” Kendall said.

“Every Sunday morning it’s been a case of getting to the ground and me saying to the team: get your whites on lads because we are going to fielding. Hopefully that changes this week.”

With a 10.30am start in September the toss could prove crucial in the final especially as Lincolnshire have Mark Footitt, the former Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Surrey left-arm pace bowler, in their side.

Footitt made his National Counties debut last season and has been in excellent form this year with 28 Championship wickets to his name including ten in the innings victory over Bedfordshire at Grantham.

“He’s bowled really well all year. Anyone would be lucky to have player of his calibre,” Kendall said.

“You often see a lot of batting all-rounder ex-pros playing National Counties cricket but you don’t get many quick bowlers like Mark who was on the periphery of the England side at his peak.

He has been a great influence and he’s bowled really well this year. Hopefully he can have another two good innings and then he can put his feet up for the winter.”

Sunday’s match will be the fourth time that Lincolnshire have faced Berkshire in the Championship final in six seasons – the competition was not played in 2020 because of Covid-19 – and the fifth since they last won the competition in 2003.

Berkshire, who have regained their Western Division crown from Oxfordshire, will be favourites to win their ninth championship having already secured the National Counties Trophy – their ninth piece of silverware in six seasons – by beating Cumbria at Wormsley at the weekend.

“I know a bit about Berkshire because I went to Loughborough University with Andy Rishton so I have been speaking to him a bit about the final,” Kendall said.

“I played in the 2018 game when we lost to them in the final at Banbury. Their team has changed a little bit from that year but they are still very strong.

“You don’t have a run of wins in all formats without being a very strong side. Everyone who plays National Counties cricket knows that they are the pinnacle.

“For us it’s a case of doing what we have been doing – going out and enjoying it.  We are all doing this out of our own time. We are trying to play as a high a level as we can but all year it has been about being relaxed and enjoying it.

“I don’t think it will change just because it’s Berkshire and we know what they are like. They have obviously got some good players but if we perform as well as we have done all year then there is no reason why we can’t go and beat them which is the plan, obviously.”

Kendall, who played first-class cricket while he was at Loughborough, is in his first season as Lincolnshire captain, having succeeded Carl Wilson,  and he has a new coach to work with.

Eddie Burke was appointed Lincolnshire’s Head of Performance earlier this season and he succeeded Mark Fell, the former Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire batter, whose 37-year association with the county as player then coach ended after the National Counties T20 tournament in May.

The change followed the merger with Lincolnshire County Cricket Club with the Lincolnshire Cricket Board to form Lincolnshire Cricket with responsibility for all cricket played in the county.

The transition has been a smooth one which Kendall attributes to the experience of a settled squad that has been together for several seasons.

“We haven’t had too many new faces in the team this season, just Jaden Fell and Mason Hildrith, but the rest of the team have been part of the squad that has played for the past three or four years,” he said

“We all know each other really well and this year the results have gone our way. We haven’t changed a lot in terms of personnel. We just seem to have got the results that we didn’t get last year.

“There hasn’t been a huge amount of change with me taking over. I know that everyone is good enough to be there, it’s a case of letting them do their own thing.

“There’s no pressure from my side about how we want to go and play. We want to be positive in everything we do but there have obviously been times when we haven’t being able to do that.”

One of the occasions when Lincolnshire could not be positive was the third day at Manor Park when they knew that a Norfolk win would equal their haul of 59 points and take them top of the Eastern Division by virtue of winning the math between the two sides.

With Kendall dismissed late on the second day, Lincolnshire knew that they needed to bat through the last day and stop Norfolk taking nine wickets to progress to the final.

“It wasn’t too bad actually. I wasn’t that nervous. We all knew what we needed to do, it was just a case of digging in,” Kendall said

“We were pretty comfortable until the last hour, then we lost two wickets just as the last hour was starting and it started to get a bit fidgety.

“I was doing laps all day and as soon as I sat down we lost a wicket so I just had to keep walking round. I didn’t have a tracker on me, but I walked quite a long way.

“We knew we had to play sensibly for long periods of time and take it hour by hour which most of the lads did very well.”

Lincolnshire will have to make at least one change to the side that drew against Norfolk for the final as batter Sam Evans, who made a century on debut against Bedfordshire, is required for county duty by Leicestershire this weekend.

National Counties Championship Final

September 4-7 (10.30am)

West Bromwich Dartmouth CC: Lincolnshire v Berkshire.