NCCA Cluberly Championship: Week 4 - Day Two Review

Slow left-armer Conner Haddow claimed his second successive ten wicket match haul to set up an intriguing final day of Buckinghamshire’s NCCA Cluberly Championship Eastern Division One match against Staffordshire at Stafford.

Haddow took a career-best 13 wickets in the draw with Cambridgeshire last week and followed up his four first innings wickets on Sunday with six more in the second innings to dismiss Staffordshire for 203.

That left Buckinghamshire with a target of 225 and a potentially tricky chase on a pitch taking spin, but they reduced it by 37 for the loss of Moiz Rana by the close.

Earlier Buckinghamshire had conceded a first innings lead of 21 after Billy Dodds added just a single to his overnight score with seamer Tom Moulton taking a Staffordshire-best four for 29.

Moulton then contributed 35 in his more usual role as a batter which, with 42 not out from Reeve Evitts, supported a half-century from captain James Kettleborough before Haddow took six of the last seven wickets to fall to bowlers.

Dodds ended the day at the crease again, this time facing 42 balls for his 10 not out.

Lincolnshire were indebted to captain Tom Keast for rescuing them against Suffolk at Cleethorpes.

Lincolnshire were 146 for seven at one stage but Keast, with support from the tail, got them to 247 which saved the follow-on.

Suffolk, with a first innings lead of 121, ran into early trouble at the start of their second innings and were 15 for three before Ollie Burle, with his second half-century of the match, and Alex Oxley (29 not out) repaired the damage with a fourth wicketstand of 80.

Berkshire pair Rhys Lewis and Jonny Connell broke the county’s first wicket partnership record against Oxfordshire at Thame in Western Division One.

The pair added 256 before they were parted which surpassed the 226 that Gary Loveday and Martin Lickley put on, also against Oxfordshire, in 1991.

Lewis went on to 203, his maiden double century and the eighth highest score in Berkshire’s history with Connell making 122.

Ben Salter weighed in with 74 before Berkshire declared on 476 for seven and an imposing lead of 148.

Oxfordshire reduced the deficit by 100 with Julian Laird missing out on a second half-century on debut by just five runs but they will need to bat for most of the final day to deny Berkshire their first win in their defence of the Western Division title.

Two former Worcestershire batters, Matt Pardoe and Taylor Cornall, made centuries for Herefordshire against Devon at Eastnor.

Pardoe made 126 and Cornall a Championship-best 174 with the left-handed duo sharing a second wicket partnership of 196, a record for any Herefordshire wicket against Devon.

Herefordshire had a handy first innings lead of 79 but Devon ended the day 45 in credit thanks to an unbroken century partnership between James Horler (64 not out) and first innings century-maker Matt Thompson (48 not out).

Bedfordshire batter Joe Johnson was two short of his second century of the match at the close against Hertfordshire at Hertford in Eastern Division Two.

Johnson made his maiden century in the first innings and was 98 not out from 91 balls as Bedfordshire extended their lead to 263 with eight wickets in hand.

Hertfordshire’s first innings included 155 not out from acting-captain Dominic Chatfield and a maiden century from Scott Galloway (128) in just his third Championship match.

Finn Kelsey also impressed on debut with 61 which helped Hertfordshire restrict Bedfordshire’s first innings advantage to 65.

Wickets tumbled at Furness where Northumberland, who had a first innings lead of nine, slumped from 86 for four to 106 for seven at the close against hosts Cumbria.

Slow left-armer Freddie Fallows followed up his four wickets in the first innings with figures of 8-5-5-3 with seamer Sam Sharp (three for 43) also troubling Northumberland.

Cumbria’s first innings 253 owed much to a fourth wicket partnership of 108 between Ben Walkden and Matt Sempill, who each made 75.

Dorset pair Joe Eckland and Will Tripcony were again in the runs against Wales NC at Wimborne in Western Division Two.

Eckland and Tripcony both made centuries in the first innings of last week’s defeat by Wiltshire and followed up with a fourth wicket partnership of 171.

Eckland, who is contracted to Hampshire, made it two centuries in three innings with Tripcony falling three short of his own hundred.

But former Northamptonshire leg-spinner Alex Russell took five for 69 which restricted Dorset’s lead to seven and Wales ended the day on 131 for three with captain Cameron Herring (38 not out) and Ollie Rayner (34not out) going well.

Wiltshire fought back well on a fascinating day of fluctuating fortunes against Shropshire at Bridgnorth.

Half-centuries from Tom Fell and Warrick Fynn, playing his first county match in six years, helped Shropshire to avert the threat of the follow-on but, with Tom Vermaak taking four wickets, Dorset still took a useful lead of 79.

Wiltshire then found themselves in trouble against the pace of Cameron Jones and George McCormick as they found themselves three for three at the start of their second innings and 56 for five when Fynn snared Jake Goodwin with a return catch.

Will Naish (73 not out) led the counter-attack with support from Chris Aubrey (41) in a sixth wicket stand of 87 which took Wiltshire to 215 for seven and restored their advantage.

NCCA Cluberly Championship

Second day of three

Eastern Division One

Cleethorpes: Suffolk 368-8 dec (Ollie Burle 95, Freddie Heldreich 68 not out, Jacob Marston 59) & 95-3 (Ollie Burle 53 not out), Lincolnshire 247 (Tom Keast 94, Sam Evans 54, Tom Harper 4-73).

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) &.

Western Division One

Eastnor: Devon 362 (Matt Thompson 104, Callum Harvey 101, Roshan Venkataraman 5-105) & 125-1 (James Horler 64 not out, Matt Thompson 48 not out), Herefordshire 441 (Taylor Cornall 174, Matt Pardoe 126, Sam Read 4-87, Callum Harvey 4-145).

Thame: Oxfordshire 328-9 (Julian Laird 85, Luke Hayes 61, George Tait 46, Samm Daniel 4-114) & 100-2 (Julian Laird 45), Berkshire 476-7 dec (Rhys Lewis 203, Jonny Connell 122, Ben Salter 74).

Eastern Division Two

Furness: Northumberland 262 (Jonny Bushnell 66, Jack McCarthy 62, Ross Whitfield 48, Freddie Fallows 4-61) & 106-7,Cumbria 253 (Ben Walkden 75, Matt Sempill 75, Jonny Bushnell 4-69).

Hertford: Bedfordshire 433-6 (Joe Johnson 107, Rohan Mehmi 82, Jake Tarling 80, Tom Cullen 77) & 198-2 (Joe Johnson 98 not out, Jamie Dunk 44), Hertfordshire 368-4 dec (Dominic Chatfield 155 not out, Scott Galloway 128, Finn Kelsey 61).

Western Division Two

Wimborne: Wales NC 339 (Jack Hope-Bell 104, Cian Davies 54, Cameron Herring 45 Connor Smith 5-76) & 131-3,Dorset 346 (Joe Eckland 112, Will Tripcony 90).

Bridgnorth: Wiltshire 388-9 (Ed Young 123 not out, Jake Goodwin 75, Josh Kelly 46, Cameron Jones 4-69) & 215-7 (Will Naish 73 not out), Shropshire 309 (Tom Fell 71, Warrick Fynn 55 not out, Joe Stanley 47, Tom Vermaak 4-89).

📸 Roy Honeybone