NCCA Cluberly Championship: Week 3 - Day 2 Review

Cheshire kept alive their hopes of returning to the top-flight of the NCCA Cluberly Championship at the first attempt by beating Wales NC by an innings and 17 runs inside two days at Abergavenny.

Cheshire were relegated from Western Division One last season and began life in the Second Division with successive draws against Shropshire and Wiltshire.

But they secured a valuable maximum points victory by building a first innings lead of 221 then dismissing Wales for 204 in their second innings with Dan Wilson taking four for 62 and his fellow slow left-armer David Wainwright three for24.

Wainwright, Cheshire’s red ball captain, had earlier weighed in with 92 with the bat and shared a sixth wicket partnership of 134 with Luke McCoy (75) which ensured they banked all four batting points.

Wainwright also added 58 for the seventh wicket with Andy Jackson (47) with off-spinner Ollie Rayner emerging with most credit for Wales with a maiden five wicket haul.

A half-century from player/coach Brad Wadlan and 36 from captain Cameron Herring delayed Cheshire but the slow left-arm pair, well supported by off-spinner Andy Dufty, had plenty of time to wrap up victory.

In the other Western Division Two match Joe Eckland and Will Tripcony shared a third wicket partnership of 232, the highest for any Dorset wicket against Wiltshire, at Corsham.

Eckland, a contracted Hampshire player, made a career-best 166 and Tripcony his maiden century in the competition, which took Dorset to 392 for nine in their 90 overs, and a lead of 23.

Off-spinner Joe King took five for 106 before Wiltshire lost two wickets clearing their arrears and another two in building a lead of 57.

A spectacular innings from Liam Hurt earned Staffordshire a lead of 47 against Suffolk at Copdock in Eastern Division One.

The former Leicestershire and Lancashire pace bowler clobbered a career-best 75 not out from just 39 balls with nine sixes and two fours. Four of Hurt’s sixes and one of his fours came in the final over the innings bowled by Dan Shanks which went for 31, with the other three runs being wides.

Hurt’s pyrotechnic display overshadowed early half-centuries from captain James Kettleborough and Michael Hill which helped Staffordshire secure maximum bonus points.

Hurt then struck in his more familiar role as a new ball bowler when he had Nico Boje taken at point early but captain Jack Beaumont batted 24 overs for his 30 not out to put Suffolk in credit as they closed on 58 for one.

Former Staffordshire seamer James Cox took his first five wicket haul of the season to putCambridgeshire in control against Buckinghamshire at Chesham.

Cox was the country’s leading wicket-taker last year with 27 which helped Cambridgeshire win promotion and, after a quiet start to this season, he got among the wickets again to help dismiss Buckinghamshire for 254.

Worcestershire batters past and present, Alexei Kervezee and Rehaan Edavalath, made half-centuries and shared a fourth wicket partnership of 89 but Buckinghamshire trailed by 113 runs on first innings.

Cambridgeshire increased their lead to 221 by the close with seven wickets in hand. Slow left-armer Conner Haddow took all three wickets to give him nine in the match to date but Wayne White will start the final day unbeaten on 50.

Dan Lincoln played a captain’s innings to save Berkshire from the threat of the follow-on against Herefordshire but they still face an uphill slog to avoid defeat at Falkland in Western Division One.

Berkshire were in deep trouble at 152 for seven until Lincoln was joined by Eddie Campion in an eighth wicket partnership of 125. Lincoln’s 124-ball 101 was his third century in the competition and Campion’s 78 his first half-century of a fledgling career.

Despite their efforts Berkshire were still 112 adrift on first innings with slow left-armer Taylor Cornall becoming only the tenth Herefordshire bowler to take seven wickets in a Championship innings with his seven for 70 being the county’s best figures since 2018.

Herefordshire openers Matt Pardoe and Ben Chapman-Lilley doubled the lead with their second century partnership of the match and Luke Tulacz was one way from a half-century when bad light ended play with Herefordshire 224 for four and leading by 336.

Rain interrupted play three times at Cornwood but it did not disrupt Devon’s Sam Read who made his maiden century against Cornwall.

Read had passed 50 just once in his previous 19 innings in the competition but he needed just 89 balls to complete his century. He was eventually caught behind off slow left-armer Max Tryfonos for 130 from 104 balls which included eight sixes.

Opener Elliot Hamilton anchored the innings with 54 which helped Devon to a first innings lead of 15 with Tryfonos and seamer Ben Ellis sharing eight wickets for Cornwall.

Cornwall managed to clear their arrears but lost opener Karl Leathley and nightwatchman Ellis Whiteford and ended the day just three ahead.

Northumberland batted themselves into a strong position against Hertfordshire at South Northumberland after they had opted not to enforce the follow-on.

Hertfordshire recovered from being 65 for eight at one stage thanks to a ninth wicket partnership of 71 between Jack Plom (49) and Ben Cowell (41) which too them to relative prosperity at 155.

Seamers Matt Oswell and Callum Fletcher shared eight of the wickets before Northumberland opted to build on their lead of 214.

A second half-century of the match from Jonny Bushnell took Northumberland to 175 for nine declared which set Hertfordshire 387 to win.

Former Derbyshire all-rounder Archie Harrison departed early when he was run out in a horrible mix-up with his captain Dominic Chatfield to leave Hertfordshire 18 for one.

Sam Arthurton played a captain’s innings for Norfolk which earned them a slender first innings lead of seven over hosts Bedfordshire at Flitwick.

Arthurton missed out on his second successive Championship century, and 17th of his career, by just three runs but he passed 5,500 runs in the competition and moved into 11th place on Norfolk’s list of all-time run scorers.

Slow left-armer Archie Houghton followed up his half-century in Bedfordshire’s first innings with a career-best five for 90 which restricted Norfolk’s lead to single figures and, in effect, meant the match became a one innings contest.

Former Hampshire batter Oli Soames led Bedfordshire’s response with 90 not out and, with Jamie Dunk also going well on 40 not out, they closed on 185 for two with an intriguing final day in prospect.

NCCA Cluberly Championship

Second day of three

Eastern Division One

Chesham: Cambridgeshire 367-9 (Alex Peirson 122, Callum Guest 71, Conner Haddow 6-120) & 108-3 (Wayne White 50 not out), Buckinghamshire 254 (Rehaan Edavalath 71, Alexei Kervezee 54, James Cox 5-76).

Copdock: Suffolk 338-9 (Jack Beaumont 154, Ishaan Rakesh 69, Jake Garlick 4-48) & 58-1, Staffordshire 385-9 (Liam Hurt 75 not out, James Kettleborough 70, Michael Hill 66, Matt Morris 46).

Western Division One

Falkland CC: Herefordshire 397 (Luke Powell 96, Ben Chapman-Lilley 86, Matt Pardoe 78, Adam Searle 7-134) & 224-4 (Matt Pardoe 64, Ben Chapman-Lilley 56, Luke Tulacz 49 not out), Berkshire 285 (Dan Lincoln 101, Eddie Campion 78, Jonny Connell 47, Taylor Cornall 7-70)

Cornwood: Cornwall 286 (Jamie Stephens 4-46, Sam Read 4-82) & 18-2, Devon 301 (Sam Read 130, Elliot Hamilton 54, Ben Ellis 4-39, Max Tryfonos 4-65).

Eastern Division Two

Flitwick: Bedfordshire 263 (Archie Houghton 67, Callum Metcalf 4-60) & 185-2 (Oli Soames 90 not out), Norfolk 270 (Sam Arthurton 97, Archie Houghton 5-90).

South Northumberland CC: Northumberland 369 (John Oswell 120, Alasdair Appleby 100, Jonny Bushnell 55, Sol Bell 50, Callum Scott 5-64, Callum Taylor 4-115) & 175-9 dec (Jonny Bushnell 56, Dominic Chatfield 4-37), Hertfordshire 155 (Jack Plom 49, Ben Cowell 46, Callum Fletcher 4-46, Matt Oswell 4-49) & 18-1

Western Division Two

Abergavenney: Wales NC 166 & 204 (Brad Wadlan 60, Dan Wilson 4-62, Cheshire 387-8 (David Wainwright 92, Luke McCoy 75, Ryan O’Brien 74, Ollie Rayner 5-151). Cheshire (24pts) beat Wales NC (3pts) by an innings and 17 runs.

Corsham: Wiltshire 369 (Josh Kelly 72, Ed Young 64, Charan Chahal 53, Connor Smith 4-83) & 80-4, Dorset 392-9 (Joe Eckland 166, Will Tripcony 114, Joe King 5-106).

 📸 Roger Byrne