NCCA Cluberly Championship Week 1 - Preview

Cambridgeshire will return to the top-flight of the NCCA Cluberly Championship this weekend determined to keep their seat at the top table..

Cambridgeshire were relegated from Eastern Division One in 2021, the first season of the new format for the three-day competition, but gained promotion last season as champions of Eastern Division Two.

They begin life back in the top division against Lincolnshire at Sleaford starting on Sunday before hosting Suffolk at Sawston the following week. Cambridgeshire complete their divisional programme with a trip to Chesham to face Buckinghamshire, the 2023 champions, and a home match against Staffordshire, last season’s joint champions, at Peterborough.

“It’s going to be a tougher test for us,” said Cambridgeshire coach James Williams. “There are some good sides in Division One but, if we can get our strongest team out each week, we can certainly compete.

“The first couple of weeks are really important. We have Lincolnshire and Suffolk in back-to-back games. If we can start out with a win, if not two, from those then we will see where we go into our last two against Buckinghamshire and Staffordshire.

“I think those last two will probably be our toughest opposition but we are pleased to be back in Division One and fighting at the top level again. It’s a strong group but we are looking forward to it.”

Cambridgeshire have replaced Bedfordshire who have yo-yoed having been twice promoted then immediately relegated but Williams will take encouragement from the performance of Buckinghamshire who won Eastern Division Two in 2022 and followed up with both the divisional and national titles 12 months later.

“That [2022] was my first season back with Cambridgeshire as a coach and Bucks were the best red ball team I had seen in a long time so I wasn’t surprised that they went up and won it straight away. They looked a really strong outfit,” he said.

“We take a lot of heart from that. We’ve got most of our bases covered. We’ve got a strong spin attack and a strong seam attack with the likes of James Cox and Matt Rees. They are two of the strongest seamers I have seen at this level for a little while.

“I’d like to think that we have our bases covered and that we can put up a good fight.”

Cambridgeshire have been boosted by the return of seamer Mark Smith after a season with Suffolk and he will make his first appearance of the season on Sunday.

Lincolnshire, who were beaten by Nottinghamshire in a Showcase Match at Cleethorpes on Monday, give Championship debuts to in-form batter Ben Jones and seamer Scott Tite on his home club ground.

Suffolk host Buckinghamshire in the other Eastern Division One match at Bury St Edmunds where former Herefordshire seamer Chris Steele will make his debut. Steele plays his club cricket for Barnards Green in the Birmingham & District Premier League where George Rhodes, Suffolk’s professional, is a team-mate.

Buckinghamshire welcome back wicketkeeper Chris Marrow after an absence of two years and give Championship debuts to Archie and Billy Dodds plus Northamptonshire Academy prospect Ed Horsley. Another Northamptonshire player, batter Aadi Sharma, is also available for his native county.

Berkshire, who shared the title with Staffordshire last September having won the Western Division, start the new campaign at home to Devon at Wargrave but without Jonny Connell and Ben Salter who have Second XI commitments with Essex and Hampshire respectively.

Connor Lamsdale and Will Hamilton have been promoted from Berkshire’s Under-18s team into a 13-man squad along with another potential debutant, Finchampstead’s experienced batter Greg Smith.

Devon include debutants George Greenway, who has represented the England Deaf side, and his fellow seamer Craig Penberthy. There are Championship debuts for Matt Jeacock and Callum Harvey and a first appearance in the competition in 12 years for Rhys Davies.

Batter Elliot Hamilton will make his seasonal debut having taken a short break from representative cricket.

Sussex batter Harrison Ward will make his first Championship appearance in three years for Oxfordshire in their Western Division One match against Cornwall at Banbury. Ward has been a regular in Oxfordshire’s white ball sides in recent seasons but is not contracted by Sussex for County Championship cricket.

There is a debut for Ben Lucking, another with Sussex connections, and Championship debuts for Oliver Armstrong and Amogh Karpe.

All-rounder Will MacVicar, who captained Cornwall in five of their recent T20 matches, will lead them for the first time in the Championship in the absence of Paul Smith.

There is a Championship debut for St Austell seamer Ben Sleeman who has appeared twice in T20 cricket.

Lancashire batter Harry Singh will play his first Championship match for Cumbria in their Eastern Division Two match against Bedfordshire at Dunstable. Singh has made regular appearances in Cumbria’s white ball sides over the past two seasons but will have his first taste of three-day cricket for them alongside seamer Louis Backhouse.

Bedfordshire give a debut to contracted Northamptonshire batter Arush Buchake and welcome back experienced all-rounder Matt Coles from injury and ex-Hampshire batter Ollie Soames who sat out their T20 campaign.

Former Cambridgeshire seamer Sam Rippington will make his debut for Hertfordshire against Norfolk at Sprowston. Rippington, who has first-class experience with Cambridge MCCU, last played for Cambridgeshire in 2019 and now plays his club cricket in Hertfordshire for Hitchin.

Batters Nico Reifer, formerly with Surrey, and Nafis Shaikh, are Championship debutants for Hertfordshire.

Great Witchingham batter Jonah Wicks will make his debut for Norfolk having progressed through the county’s pathway programme.

The Hertfordshire match marks the start of the Norfolk Cricket Festival, the first to be hosted by Sprowston. Northumberland are the visitors for another Championship match from July 27-29 with a 50 overs Showcase Match against Kent to follow on August 4.

Cheshire introduce Hyde’s Ryan O’Brien and Clifton Alliance’s Ed Wade in their Western Division Two match against Shropshire at Whitchurch.

Former Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Hampshire slow left-armer David Wainwright will make his seasonal debut and will captain Cheshire as they attempt to bounce back from relegation last season.

Shropshire have made six changes to the side beaten by Dorset in last weekend’s National Counties Trophy final as Rahul Kaushal, George Hargrave, Jacques Banton, Andre Bradford, Lewis Evans and Cameron Jones are all unavailable.

Shifnall all-rounder Ollie Parton is called up for his county debut and Wem batter Harry Chandler will make his first Championship appearances in nine years.

Barnt Green batter Amrinder Brar makes his first appearance of the season and his Championship debut with seamers Ravan Chahal and George McCormick also newcomers to the competition.

Left-arm seamer Josh Croom makes his first appearance of the season for Wiltshire against Wales NC at the South Wilts club in Salisbury. Croom missed all of Wiltshire’s National Counties Trophy and T20 matches while he was trialling with Northamptonshire.

Will Brown and Jon Sadler are both Championship debutants for Wiltshire.

Former Cornwall seamer Tom Dinnis will make his debut for Wales in a side that includes three Championship newcomers in Ollie Rayner, Joe Davies and Hugo Caldicott.

Former Gloucestershire and Glamorgan wicketkeeper/batter Cameron Herring returns as captain and seamer Richard Edwards will add further experience on his seasonal debut.

NCCA Cluberly Championship

Sunday July 20-Tuesday July 22 (11am)

Eastern Division One

Sleaford: Lincolnshire v Cambridgeshire. Bury St Edmunds: Suffolk v Buckinghamshire.

Western Division One

Wargrave: Berkshire v Devon. Banbury: Oxfordshire v Cornwall.

Eastern Division Two

Dunstable: Bedfordshire v Cumbria. Sprowston: Norfolk v Hertfordshire.

Western Division Two

Whitchurch: Shropshire v Cheshire. South Wilts CC: Wiltshire v Wales NC.

Showcase Match

Monday July 14

Cleethorpes: Nottinghamshire 379-6 (Matt Montgomery 100, Dan Schadendorf 65 not out, Ben Slater 62, Sam King 54), Lincolnshire 219 (Jordan Cook 60, Ben Jones 48, James Hayes 3-56). Nottinghamshire won by 160 runs.

📸 Roger Byrne