NCCA Cluberly Championship: Week 4 - Day Three Review

Buckinghamshire held their nerve to beat defending NCCA Cluberly Championship Eastern Division championsStaffordshire by one wicket in a tense finale at Stafford.

Chasing a target of 225 in the fourth innings was never going to be easy on a pitch that had taken spin from an early stage but Buckinghamshire, the Eastern and national champions in 2023, managed to scramble their way to an important victory over last year’s joint national champions.

They will now host bottom side Lincolnshire in their final divisional match starting on August 31 with Staffordshire facing a trip to Peterborough to face Cambridgeshire, probably needing a victory to overtake Buckinghamshire, who hold a ten points lead over them. Suffolk, who beat Lincolnshire by 191 runs at Cleethorpes are the new leaders of Eastern Division One but have completed their programme and, with a lead of just three points, their time there will be limited.

All-rounder Ed Bragg was Buckinghamshire’s hero as he struck Matt Morris for the winning boundary after Cameron Parsons had been bowled by Tom Brett with the scores level.

Conner Haddow, whose ten wickets in the match set up the win, then blocked out the next four balls leaving Bragg to hot the winning runs and finish unbeaten on 29.

Opener Billy Dodds again made important runs early in the innings with skipper Alexei Kervezee (28) and Teddy Fleming (34) playing useful cameos which whittled down the target despite four wickets from pace bowler Sam Atkinson.

Suffolk’s victory over Lincolnshire banished their relegation fears and pushed their hosts closer to losing First Division status for the first time.

Half-centuries from Alex Oxley and Ollie Burle helped Suffolk withstand the pace of Mark Footitt (four for 48) and take them to a declaration at 227 for nine.

Lincolnshire were set 349 but they slipped quietly to 157 all out with only Nic Keast (62) and Sam Evans, who batted two-and-a-half hours for his 38 not out, delaying Suffolk for long.

Off-spinner Tom Harper took four for 15 in 16 miserly overs to leave Lincolnshire needing an unlikely combination of results – including beating Buckinghamshire with plenty of bonus points – to escape relegation.

Northumberland are the new leaders of Eastern Division Two after they conjured up an unlikely 33 runs victory overCumbria at Furness.

Cumbria had plenty of time to chase a target of 153 and they were going well at 89 for three but then collapsed to the left-arm spin of Joe Stuart.

They lost their last seven wickets for 30 with Stuart taking six for 33, his second five wicket haul in as many Championship matches in his debut season.

Bedfordshire had to settle for a draw against Hertfordshire at Hertford despite a record-breaking performance from Joe Johnson.

He followed up his maiden century in the first innings with 252 not out in the second and the highest-ever score made by a Bedfordshire batter, eclipsing the 234 that Andrew Poole scored against Oxfordshire in 1936.

Johnson also became the first man to score a double century and a century in the same National Counties match with his 252 being the highest score in the competition since 1950.

Bedfordshire piled up 456 for three declared which gave them a record match aggregate by one side in a National Counties Championship match of 889.

Hertfordshire, who were set 522 to win, were happy to bat out time with their second innings total of 301 adding to a match aggregate of 1,558 runs, a record for a match involving both of the counties and just one short of equalling the Championship record.

Half -centuries from Cole Seggery, Archie Harrison and Fin Kelsey – his second of his debut match – frustrated Bedfordshire.

Berkshire will finish a season empty-handed for the first time since 2015 after Oxfordshire batted through the final day for a draw at Thame in Western Division One.

It meant Berkshire completed their season with a fourth straight draw and, as they can no longer finish top, they will have to hand over their Western Division title next month.

Who will succeed them remains to be decided as only Devon – who beat Cornwall last week – have managed a victory in ten matches in a cat-and-mouse division with just 17 points splitting them at the top of the table from Cornwall at the bottom.

Devon also opted for the security of a draw against Herefordshire at Eastnor where Matt Thompson and Callum Harvey followed up their first innings centuries with a half-century apiece in the second.

There were also half centuries for Lawrence Walker and James Horler in Devon’s 420 all out which left Herefordshire an unlikely target of 342 in 40 overs.

After an early spurt, Herefordshire were happy to bank 12 points for the draw with captain Matt Pardoe passing 50 for the fourth consecutive Championship innings in following his first innings century with 78 not out.

The Western Division Two title is now a straight fight between Dorset and Wiltshire.

Wiltshire completed their programme with a 55 runs victory over Shropshire at Bridgnorth but they will now have to watch and wait when Dorset take on Cheshire in the final round of matches at Chester Boughton Hall. Wiltshire have a 13 points clear of Dorset who kept their promotion hopes alive by beating Wales NC by ten wickets at Wimborne.

A maiden century from Will Naish prolonged Wiltshire’s resistance in the morning session before they were dismissed for 281, leaving Shropshire to chase 361 for their first win of the season.

Shropshire started strongly with Harry Chandler (71) and Ollie Parton (43) opening with a partnership of 69 but Wiltshire off-spinner Joe King kept chipping away and collected the ninth five wicket haul of his career when Joe Stanley was last out for 61.

Dorset cantered to victory over Wales with Wilf La Fontaine Jackson and Dylan Church setting a first wicket partnership record for the county.

The pair scored all of the 242 runs Dorset needed for victory and surpassed the previous first wicket record of 232 by George Jones and Charles Brockway against Devon in 1933.

La Fontaine Jackson became the first Dorset batter in 18 years to score a century in his first match in the competition and finished unbeaten on 116 with Church 109 not out.

Slow left-armer Connor Smith also played a major part in the victory as claimed career best bowling figures in an innings and in the match. Smith took six for 99 to help dismiss Wales for 248 and finished with 11 for 175 in the match.

 NCCA Cluberly Championship

Final day of three

Eastern Division One

Cleethorpes: Suffolk 368-8 dec (Ollie Burle 95, Freddie Heldreich 68 not out, Jacob Marston 59) & 227-9 dec (Alex Oxley 69, Ollie Burle 64, Mark Footitt 4-48), Lincolnshire 247 (Tom Keast 94, Sam Evans 54, Tom Harper 4-73) & 157 (Nic Keast 62, Tom Harper 4-15). Suffolk (24pts) beat Lincolnshire (5pts) by 191 runs.

Stafford: Staffordshire 194 (Jack Redman 45, Conner Haddow 4-21) & 203 (James Kettleborough 54, Conner Haddow 6-38), Buckinghamshire 173 (Billy Dodds 55, Tom Moulton 4-29) 228-9 (Billy Dodds 45, Sam Atkinson 4-34). Buckinghamshire (20pts) beat Staffordshire (5pts) by one wicket.

Western Division One

Eastnor: Devon 362 (Matt Thompson 104, Callum Harvey 101, Roshan Venkataraman 5-105) & 420 (Callum Harvey 73, James Horler 64, Lawrence Walker 53, Matt Thompson 52), Herefordshire 441 (Taylor Cornall 174, Matt Pardoe 126, Sam Read 4-87, Callum Harvey 4-145) & 174-4 (Matt Pardoe 78 not out). Herefordshire (12pts) drew with Devon (12pts).

Thame: Oxfordshire 328-9 (Julian Laird 85, Luke Hayes 61, George Tait 46, Samm Daniel 4-114) & 354-6 (Hayden Rossouw 103, Arjun Ramkumar, Julian Laird 45), Berkshire 476-7 dec (Rhys Lewis 203, Jonny Connell 122, Ben Salter 74). Oxfordshire (11pts) drew with Berkshire (12pts).

Eastern Division Two

Furness: Northumberland 262 (Jonny Bushnell 66, Jack McCarthy 62, Ross Whitfield 48, Freddie Fallows 4-61) & 143 (Sam Sharp 6-57), Cumbria 253 (Ben Walkden 75, Matt Sempill 75, Jonny Bushnell 4-69) & 119 (Joe Stuart 6-33). Northumberland (22pts) beat Cumbria (6pts) by 33 runs.

Hertford: Bedfordshire 433-6 (Joe Johnson 107, Rohan Mehmi 82, Jake Tarling 80, Tom Cullen 77) & 456-3 dec (Joe Johnson 252 not out, Jamie Dunk 66, George Thurstance 54 not out), Hertfordshire 368-4 dec (Dominic Chatfield 155 not out, Scott Galloway 128, Finn Kelsey 61) & 301-6 (Cole Seggery 71 not out, Archie Harrison 66, Finn Kelsey 51). Hertfordshire (10pts) drew with Bedfordshire (9pts).

Western Division Two

Wimborne: Wales NC 339 (Jack Hope-Bell 104, Cian Davies 54, Cameron Herring 45, Connor Smith 5-76) & 248 (Cameron Herring 51, Connor Smith 6-99), Dorset 346 (Joe Eckland 112, Will Tripcony 90) & 242-0 (Wilf La Fontaine Jackson 116 not out, Dylan Church 109 not out. Dorset (24pts) beat Wales NC (8pts) by 10 wickets.

Bridgnorth: Wiltshire 388-9 (Ed Young 123 not out, Jake Goodwin 75, Josh Kelly 46, Cameron Jones 4-69) & 281 (Will Naish 113 not out, Will Brown 49 ), Shropshire 309 (Tom Fell 71, Warrick Fynn 55 not out, Joe Stanley 47, Tom Vermaak 4-89) & 305 (Harry Chandler 71, Joe Stanley 61, Joe King 5-79). Wiltshire (24pts) beat Shropshire (7pts) by 55 runs.

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