National Counties 50-over Knockout Trophy Review - Week 4 Review

Dorset, Cumbria and Hertfordshire secured their places in the quarter-finals of this season’s National Counties Trophy and will have the incentive of home advantage to play for in the final round of group matches on June 25. 

Dorset made sure of qualification from Group Four by beating Wales NC by 18 runs at Panteg and now face Wiltshire at Dorchester next Sunday to decide who will top the group and host the runners-up in Group Two in the quarter-finals on July 2. 

Cumbria ended Northumberland’s unbeaten run with a 74 runs victory at Allendale and will overtake them at the top of Group One if they can take at least one point from their match against Lincolnshire at Keswick next weekend. 

Hertfordshire made it three wins in a row by beating Devon by eight runs under the DLS method at Instow and now face Cornwall at North Mymms in a Group Two decider 

David Scott was Dorset’s hero as he produced career-best performances in the competition with bat and ball. 

First Scott made 119 to lift Dorset to 240 for nine after they were four for two at one stage with his 130 ball innings including 14 fours. 

Scott then took four for 44 to help end Wales’ challenge despite 95 from player/coach Brad Wadlan, the second week running he had made a half century in a losing cause. 

Hampshire’s Joe Eckland (29) helped Scott rally Dorset with a third wicket partnership of 68 with Simon Woodruff weighing in with 39 down the order. 

Connor Smith (four for 35) then helped to reduce Wales to 88 for five and returned to break a sixth wicket partnership of 102 between Wadlan and Sam Pearce by accounting for Pearce and in the space of four balls. 

Cumbria’s win at Allendale was based around 78 from Freddie Fallows and five wickets from slow left-armer Matt Siddall, both of them competition bests. 

Leicestershire seamer Chris Wright contributed 31 from 26 balls in Cumbria’s 244 and then bowled six over for eight before Siddall got to work after Northumberland’s innings had briefly been disrupted by a swarm of bees which forced the umpires to take the players from the field. 

Hertfordshire were indebted to 58 from Andrew Neal for rescuing them from 52 for five against Devon. 

Hertfordshire slipped from 25 without loss before Neal and Bailey Eustance (28) stabilised the innings with a sixth wicket partnership of 52. 

North Devon’s Jack Moore took three for 43 on his home club ground with Kaz Szymanski taking three for 37. 

Captain James Horler led Devon’s rain-shortened chase but Jigar Mehta kept them in check with four for 20 and they were eight behind the DLS rate when the rain arrived. 

Former Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Surrey left-arm paceman Mark Footitt took seven for 14, the best-ever figures in the Trophy, to clinch a 201 runs victory for Lincolnshire over Oxfordshire at Bracebridge Heath in Group One. 

Footitt’s figures bettered the seven for 15 that seamer Paul Bradshaw took for Norfolk against Herefordshire at Manor Park in 2005 in a competition that began in 1986. Lincolnshire’s previous best figures in the Trophy were six for 47 by Karanjit Bansal against Cambridgeshire in 2009. 

Jaden Fell (91) and Ben Wright (85) laid the foundations for Lincolnshire’s 302 for seven with their competition-best scores in an opening stand of 187. 

Footitt then scythed through Oxfordshire who were shot out for 101 with almost half their overs unused. At one stage Footitt took six for five in 15 balls and was twice on a hat-trick. 

Debutants Zak Tribe, who took three for 41, and Teddy Rex, who top-scored with 26, emerged with some credit from Oxfordshire’s wreckage. 

Cornwall beat Bedfordshire by four wickets at Redruth despite missing their six-strong Penzance contingent who were on National Club Championship duty. 

Former Leicestershire opener Sam Bates (86) and captain George Thurstance (85) took Bedfordshire to a competitive 251. 

Werrington’s Adam Hodgson took five for 31 on his first appearance for Cornwall in five years before Helston all-rounder Dan Jenkin made a brisk 33 on his debut in an opening partnership of 60 with Max Tryfonos. 

Tryfonos went on to make 68 from 65 balls then Will MacVicar again underlined his value to Cornwall by closing out the victory with a composed 84 not out. 

A point for Cornwall against Hertfordshire next weekend would be enough to end Berkshire’s hopes of winning the Trophy for a fourth successive season. 

Former Worcestershire batter Tom Fell kept Shropshire in the hunt for a quarter-final place with an unbeaten century that set up a 14 runs win against Cambridgeshire at St George’s. 

Fell’s 117 not out included 11 fours and a six and he shared a third wicket stand of 101 with his former Worcestershire team-mate Olly Westbury. 

Cambridgeshire were set a revised target of 180 from 30 overs after a stoppage for rain and were 136 for five when the match was halted. 

Acting-captain Wayne White passed 50 for the third successive week for Cambridgeshire but three wickets from Matt Simmonds reined them in. 

Shropshire now face Cheshire at Toft next Sunday in a shoot-out to decide who will join Suffolk in the quarter-finals with the Group Three winners likely to be decided on net run rate. 

Staffordshire’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages were scuppered by Dorset’s win and a 26 runs defeat for themselves by Buckinghamshire in another rain-shortened match at Moddershall. 

Half centuries from James Kettleborough (61) and Callum Hawkins (53) appeared to have laid the foundations for an imposing total but Staffordshire were becalmed by Buckinghamshire’s spinners. 

Leg-spinner Stephen Croft claimed Trophy-best figures of five for 44 and Staffordshire mustered only 107 runs in the second half of their innings despite a battling 71 from Michael Hill. 

Alex Woodland’s half century and useful supporting innings from Ewan Cox and Chris Marrow kept Buckinghamshire well ahead of the asking rate when the forecast thunderstorm hit the hilltop ground. 

Buckinghamshire’s win, their first of the season, came too late to keep alive their already slim hopes of reaching the quarter-finals. 

National Counties Trophy 

Group One 

Bracebridge Heath: Lincolnshire 302-7 (Jaden Fell 91, Ben Wright 85), Oxfordshire 101 (Mark Footitt 7-14). Lincolnshire won by 201 runs. 

Allendale: Cumbria 244 (Freddie Fallows 78), Northumberland 170 (Matt Siddall 5-58). Cumbria won by 74 runs. 

Group Two 

Redruth: Bedfordshire 251 (Sam Bates 86, George Thurstance 85, Adam Hodgson 5-31), Cornwall 253-6 (Will MacVicar 84 not out, Max Tryfonos 68). Cornwall won by four wickets. 

Instow: Hertfordshire 202 (Andrew Neal 58), Devon 110-5 (James Horler 51 not out, Jigar Mehta 4-20). Hertfordshire won by eight runs (DLS Method). 

Group Three 

St George’s: Shropshire 250-8 (Tom Fell 117 not out), Cambridgeshire 136-5 (Wayne White 58 not out). Shropshire won by 14 runs (DLS Method). 

Group Four 

Moddershall: Staffordshire 259-9 (Michael Hill 71, James Kettleborough 61, Callum Hawkins 53, Stephen Croft 5-44), Buckinghamshire 105-1 (Alex Woodland 55 not out). Buckinghamshire won by 26 runs (DLS Method) 

Panteg: Dorset 240-9 (David Scott 119, Jack Harding 4-36), Wales NC 222 (Brad Wadlan 95, Connor Smith 4-35, David Scott 4-44). Dorset won by 18 runs. 

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