National Counties Trophy Final Review 2022

Berkshire made it a hat-trick of wins over Cumbria in the National Counties Trophy final with an emphatic five wickets win at Wormsley.

It gave Berkshire their ninth piece of silverware in six seasons and they have the opportunity to add a tenth when they face Lincolnshire in National Counties Championship final at West Bromwich Dartmouth from September 4 to 7.

Although the margin of victory – which came with more than 11 overs to spare – was comfortable, Cumbria did give the holders some anxious moments early in their innings.

Sam Dutton (67) and Ben Walkden (64) appeared to have laid the foundations for a more substantial total when they shared an opening partnership of 108, the highest for the first wicket in a final at Wormsley.

But after Dutton drove to mid-on, Cumbria lost their way badly against tight bowling a sharp fielding.

There were 65 dot balls in the second half of Cumbria’s innings and a total of 227 for nine always looked at least 50 runs light on a good batting pitch.

They also needed Walkden to bat through the innings, instead he was taken at long-off trying to clear the ropes in the 35th over and only Marcus Stables (34) went past 14 as the middle order buckled.

Berkshire wobbled when openers Archie Carter and Johnny Connell departed early but Euan Woods, with his Trophy-best 84, and Jack Davies (64) calmed any nerves with a third wicket partnership of 135 in 20 overs.

“We hung in there hoping they would get the acceleration point wrong. I don’t necessarily think they did, they lost wickets and it felt like 300 would be a good score and 275 would be par,” said Berkshire coach Tom Lambert.

“Nothing really happened at the end of the innings. We also bowled well and fielded well after a few early drops.

“They were 100 for none, however, with the amount of time it had taken them to get there, we still felt comfortable with chasing 275 but anything with three in it is always massive pressure for a final.

“The overs remaining was the key. I don’t think the wickets in hand was that much of an issue. That’s on them to work out how they are going to use their wickets in hand.

“We were more interested in the fact that they were going at four, four-and-a-half an over which made us think: we are OK here, when is the acceleration going to come, would they get the timing of that right and would we react well to it? Those things went our way I guess.”

Defeat in the final for the third season running was hard for Cumbria to take but their new captain Michael Slack was proud of his young team.

“From where we were at the halfway stage we wanted another 40 runs. We knew Berkshire were going to come hard because that’s the way they play,” he said.

“Our middle order didn’t fire. After the start we had we should have been looking at 260 to 280. The deck was good, it was flat, it just wasn’t to” be.”

“To get to a final three years on the bounce is not an easy thing to do. But we don’t want to get used to coming here and losing we do want to come here and taste success. We will be back here next year fingers crossed.”

Berkshire will have little time to celebrate their latest title before they turn their attention to taking on Lincolnshire, who are familiar opponents having beaten them in three successive Championship finals between 2016 and 2018.

“The focus is now to enjoy tonight and then figure out what we are doing with the four-day final team,” Lambert said.

“Whatever else happens now it has definitely been a great season. It would be lovely to cap it off with a double but we will focus on that tomorrow.”

National Counties Trophy Final

Wormsley: Cumbria 227-9 (Sam Dutton 67, Ben Walden 64), Berkshire 231-5 (Euan Woods 84, Jack Davies 64). Berkshire won by five wickets.