NCCA Cluberly Championship Week 1 - Review

Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire banked the first wins of the new NCCA Cluberly Championship season by beating Cumbria and Suffolk respectively.

Bedfordshire were the first winners of the opening round as they eased to a nine wickets win at Dunstable in Eastern Division Two despite a century from Cumbria’s acting-captain Matt Sempill.

Buckinghamshire then beat Suffolk by 119 runs in Eastern Division One at Bury St Edmunds where some creative captaincy produced a positive result from a rain-ravaged contest.

Sempill’s career-best 161 was the highest score for Cumbria against Bedfordshire and forced them to wait until late afternoon before they claimed victory.

Sempill defied Bedfordshire for almost five-and-a-half hours but was eventually last out, snared by Archie Houghton which gave the slow left-armer his maiden five wicket haul.

Bedfordshire were left with 51 overs to get 69 but they needed only 10.2 of them with Jake Tarling finishing unbeaten on 39.

At Bury St Edmunds Suffolk captain Jack Beaumont and his opposite number Alexei Kervezee got their heads together to set up and intriguing final day with Suffolk forfeiting their first innings and Buckinghamshire, who made 230 for nine in their first innings, making 45 without loss from 21 balls second time before Kervezee declared. It was a gamble which paid off for Kervezee as Buckinghamshire, the 2023 champions, collected 18 points from their unexpected win while Suffolk may regret passing up the opportunity to earn more than four bowling bonus points.

Suffolk were set 276 but they lost Beaumont to the third ball of the innings and the chase was soon aborted.

Darren Ironside (32) and Alex Oxley (45) each batted for two-and-a-half hours but Buckinghamshire bowled well as unit led by seamer Cameron Parsons with four for 41.

Lincolnshire opener Nic Keast made a career-best 181, his county’s highest score in six years, in the draw with Cambridgeshire at Sleaford.

Keast’s efforts ensured that Lincolnshire trailed by just 40 on first innings with former Leicestershire slow left-armer James Sykes taking five for 128 in 40.1 overs.

Scott Tite removed Wayne White and Will Routledge early in Cambridgeshire’s second innings before Callum Guest (59) and Ben Saunders (70 not out) settled things down with a fourth wicket partnership of 90. Guest made his second half-century of the match andSaunders his first on his Championship debut.

Rain came to Cornwall’s aid against Oxfordshire in Western Divison One at Banbury where there was no play before lunch.

Cornwall’s sole objective was to save the follow-on but they suffered a setback when Ellis Whiteford was forced to retire hurt on 16 when he injured himself taking evasive action against a short ball from Tom Davis.

Whiteford returned to the crease after Jake Rowe was bowled by slow left-armer Ben Lucking and struck the boundary off Max Mannering that took Cornwall past their follow-on target of 153.

Whiteford finished unbeaten on 29 and Cornwall were eventually dismissed for 185 with Lucking taking four for 41 in his first bowl for Oxfordshire.

Berkshire and Devon played out a predictable draw on a good batting pitch at Wargrave where the visitors’ opener Elliot Hamilton made a century on his first appearance of the season.

Hamilton shared a second century partnership of the match for the second wicket with Matt Thompson (56) which helped Devon to clear their arrears of 47.

Hamilton finished unbeaten on 124 in Devon’s 221 for three in a solid start to their Championship season.

Cheshire were indebted to their last wicket pair of Sam Grant and Andy Dufty for saving the follow-on on securing a draw againstShropshire at Whitchurch in Western Division Two.

Cheshire still need nine to avoid the follow-on when Grant and Dufty came together but they achieved that first objective then added a further 63 runs in the county’s record tenth wicket partnership against Shropshire.

Seam bowler Grant went into the match with just 57 runs in his previous four appearances in the competition but he more than doubled that by making 69 before he was caught behind off Ben Roberts.

Shropshire opener Harry Chandler compiled his second half-century of the match before the sides shook hand on the draw.

Wiltshire did their best to produce a positive result from their rain-affected contest against Wales NC at the South Wilts club but eventually had to settle for a draw.

Half-centuries from Jake Goodwin and Tom Cheater, who added 101 in an unbroken fifth wicket stand, helped Wiltshire to declare on 206 for four and set Wales a target of 282 in a minimum of 38 overs.

Left-arm seamer Josh Croom removed Harry Friend and Ollie Rayner early on but Brad Wadlan counter-attacked with five fours in his 23-ball 22 before he was bowled by Chris Aubrey.

Wales then set about saving the match with opener Hugo Caldicott batting almost two-and-a-half hours for his 28 and captain Cameron Hemming almost an hour for his six runs.

Wiltshire scented victory when Herring was bowled by Will Brown but Aaron Davies (25 not out) and Alex Russell (18 not out) batted out the final 30 minutes to deny them.

Rain had the final say in the Eastern Division Two match at Sprowston where Norfolk had the better of a watery draw withHertfordshire.

With almost two days’ of playing time lost to the weather, it became a battle for bonus points which Norfolk won by dismissing Hertfordshire for 163 with seamer Andy Hanby taking four for 64 and former Derbyshire and Kent off-spinner Hamidullah Qadri threefor 29.

A heavy shower interrupted Norfolk’s reply but the sides returned after tea and openers Sam Arthurton (37) and Ethan Metcalf (32 not out) provided some entertainment for the spectators at the end of a frustrating three days in the first Championship match played at Sprowston.

NCCA Cluberly Championship

Last day of three

Eastern Division One

Sleaford: Cambridgeshire 352-6 (Callum Guest 98, Ben Claydon 76, Wayne White 61) and 172-4 dec (Ben Saunders 70 not out, Callum Guest 59), Lincolnshire 312 (Nic Keast 181, James Sykes 5-128). Lincolnshire (9pts) drew with Cambridgeshire (12pts)

Bury St Edmunds: Buckinghamshire 230-9 and 45-0 dec, Suffolk first innings forfeited and 156 (Alex Oxley, Cameron Parsons 4-41). Buckinghamshire (18pts) beat Suffolk (4pts) by 119 runs.

Western Division One

Wargrave: Devon 270-9 (Elliot Hamilton 87, Matt Thompson 68, Josh Lincoln 5-52) and 221-3 (Elliot Hamilton 124 not out, Matt Thompson 56), Berkshire 317 (Rhys Lewis 86, Charlie Dunnett 62). Berkshire (11pts) drew with Devon (10pts).

Banbury: Oxfordshire 302 (Luke Maslen 76, Hayden Rossouw 65, Max Tryfonos 4-57), Cornwall 185 (Alfie MacDonald 52, Ben Lucking 4-41). Oxfordshire (11pts) drew with Cornwall (9ts).

Eastern Division Two

Dunstable: Cumbria 81 (Oscar Phillips 4-22) and 361 (Matt Sempill 161, Archie Houghton 5-107), Bedfordshire 374-4 dec (Oli Soames 180, Jake Tarling 148) and 69-1. Bedfordshire (24pts) beat Cumbria (1pt) by nine wickets.

Sprowston: Hertfordshire 163 (Andy Hanby 4-64), Norfolk 93-2. Norfolk (8pts) drew with Norfolk (4pts).

Western Division Two

Whitchurch: Shropshire 312-9 (Arminder Brar 61, Harry Chandler 57, Andy Dufty 4-81) and 122-2 dec (Harry Chandler 56), Cheshire226 (Sam Grant 69, Greg McCormick 5-33). Shropshire (11pts) drew with Cheshire (10pts).

South Wilts CC: Wiltshire 281 (Will Brown 84, Jack Mynott 40, Richard Edwards 6-78) and 206-4 dec (Jake Goodwin 65 not out, Tom Cheater 50 not out), Wales NC 206 (Chris Aubrey 5-34) and 142-6. Wiltshire (11pts) drew with Wales NC (9pts).