National Counties One Day Trophy Preview

Essex opening batter Nick Browne will make his first appearance for Suffolk in nine years in Sunday’s opening National Counties Trophy match against Norfolk at Mildenhall. 

Browne’s only previous appearance for Suffolk also came in the 50 overs competition and against Norfolk at Bury St Edmunds in May 2013 and although he made 59 it was not enough to save them from a 12 runs defeat. 

Browne comes into Suffolk’s squad in a swap with his Essex team-mate Josh Rymell, who featured in the National Counties T20 competition, with Hadleigh all-rounder Dom Manthorpe set for his first county appearance in six years. 

Mildenhall batter Ben Shepperson will make his first appearance of the season having been unavailable for the T20 competition and all-rounder Darren Batch and wicketkeeper Jacob Marston are recalled. 

Norfolk will give a debut to all-rounder Sammy King who is on the staff at Nottinghamshire and who made his List A debut as a concussion substitute against Glamorgan in last season’s Royal London Cup. 

Oxfordshire, who won the first silverware of the season last Sunday when they beat Cambridgeshire in the National Counties T20 final at Tring, open their Trophy campaign against Herefordshire at Eastnor. 

Oxfordshire are without five players contracted to first-class counties – Harrison Ward and James Coles (Sussex) and Luke Charlesworth and Ollie and Tom Price (Gloucestershire) – so Tom Cosford, Freddie Smith, Tom Condon, Robbie Shurmer and Prav Chahal are recalled. 

Herefordshire are missing leg-spinner Alex Russell, who has been included in Northamptonshire’s Vitality Blast squad but all-rounder Jasper Davidson, who plays his club cricket for Harborne, will make his debut. 

Zain ul-Hassan returns after injury and batsman Ben Chapman-Lilley will make his first appearance of the season having missed out on the T20 competition. 

Berkshire begin their Trophy defence against Devon at Henley where seamer Tom Nugent will make his first appearance of the season at his home ground. 

Henley batsman Johnny Connell has also been included in Berkshire’s squad for the first time. 

Devon welcome back captain Jamie Stephens and wicketkeeper/batter Matt Thompson who were unavailable for the T20 programme due to work commitments. 

Pace bowler Hugo Whitlock, who also missed the T20s because of exam commitments at Oxford Brookes University, is also set for his seasonal debut. 

Cumbria will give debuts to batter JJ Fielding and Netherfield wicketkeeper/batter Finlay Richardson againstLincolnshire at Scunthorpe. 

Fielding is the son of Jon Fielding, who played for Cumberland from 1996 to 2006 having previously been on Lancashire’s staff. 

Lincolnshire have included batsman Sam Evison, who last played for the county in 2014, in their squad and recalled Curtis Free and Mason Hildrith who appeared in their early T20 matches last month. 

Bedfordshire have seamer Alex Evans, who is contracted to Leicestershire, available for his seasonal debut against Hertfordshire at Bedford School. 

Hertfordshire include batter Hamza Ahmed and seamer Jigar Mehta in their squad for the first time in three years with batter Dominic Chatfield, who missed the T20 programme, back for his first appearance of the season. 

Cambridgeshire have made four changes to the side beaten by Oxfordshire in last Sunday’s T20 final for their match against Cheshire at Exning. 

Nikhil Gorantla, Mark Smith and Alex Hancock all return to the side with Josh Porter, a left-arm seamer from Wisbech, also included in a 12-man squad. 

Cheshire welcome back former Leicestershire batsman Harry Dearden and will give a debut to Oulton Park seamer Andy Dufty. 

Oxton seamer Chris Stenhouse will make his first appearance of the season with Rob Sehmi taking over as captain from Nick Anderson who led Cheshire to the T20 semi-finals. 

Wales NC, beaten semi-finalists in last season’s Trophy, begin their campaign against Buckinghamshire at Port Talbot where seamers Lorenzo Machado and Jason Foulkes will make their competition debuts. 

Glamorgan off-spinner Tegid Phillips will make his seasonal debut but Wales are missing batter Oskar Kolk, seamer Aneurin Norman and all-rounder Greg Smith. 

Buckinghamshire have named Gerrards Cross wicketkeeper/batter Chris Marrow in their squad for a possible competitive debut. 

Another wicketkeeper/batsman, Alex Woodland, is also in the squad having missed the T20 programme but Eliot Callis and Michael Wells are unavailable. 

Wiltshire host Dorset, who beat them in a T20 double-header last month, at Marlborough College where Gloucestershire Academy opening batsman Ollie Meadows will make his debut. 

Slow left-armer Jack Stearman is in for his first appearance of the season with Chris Aubrey and Matt Burton recalled after they featured in Wiltshire’s early T20 matches. 

National Counties Trophy  

Sunday May 29 (11am)  

Group One  

Eastnor: Herefordshire v Oxfordshire. Scunthorpe: Lincolnshire v Cumbria.  

Group Two  

Bedford School: Bedfordshire v Hertfordshire. Henley: Berkshire v Devon.  

Group Three  

Exning: Cambridgeshire v Cheshire. Mildenhall: Suffolk v Norfolk.  

Group Four  

Port Talbot: Wales NC v Buckinghamshire. Marlborough College: Wiltshire v Dorset.