NCCA T20 2025 - Week 2 Review

Hertfordshire and Suffolk completed doubles in the second round of National Counties T20 double-headers with victories over Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire respectively in Group Two.

Hertfordshire won the opener against Lincolnshire at Welwyn Garden City by six wickets and the second by nine wickets with former Derbyshire all-rounder Archie Harrison improving on his competition-best scores twice in the day without being dismissed. Harrison saw Hertfordshire home in the first match by making 42 not out and he then surpassed that by finishing unbeaten on 59 and sharing an unbroken second wicket partnership of 96 with former Glamorgan batter Callum Taylor (56 not out).

The double gave Hertfordshire three wins out of four and took them to the top of Group Two with Lincolnshire anchored at the bottom with four straight defeats despite 48 from Nick Keast in the first match and 40 from rookie Ben Jones in the second.

Sussex slow left-armer Troy Henry took three for 27 for Hertfordshire in the second match in but it was his captain Ben Waring who caused Lincolnshire most problems as he took the new ball and finished with four for 19.

Suffolk, already through to the semi-finals of the National Counties Trophy, began their T20 campaign by beating Cambridgeshire by 11 runs in a low-scoring opener at Ipswich School and by 26 runs in the second match of the day.

Suffolk successfully defended a total of 127 in the first match thanks to a competition-best four for 12 from leg-spinner Josh Cantrell. Cambridgeshire’s Yousuf Choudhury (33) was the only batter to reach 30 in the match.

Runs flowed more freely in the second match with Suffolk’s Adam Jones impressing with 85 not out in just his

Honours were shared in five of the other six matches with the exception being at Keswick in Group One where Cumbria and Northumberland took a point each from an abandoned opener and Northumberland held their nerve to defend a total of 107 in the second.

Cumbria needed seven off Callum Fletcher’s final over with four wickets intact but the seamer conceded just three singles and also bowled Glen Weightman to clinch a three runs victory.

Seamer Sam Sharp took three for 12 and Matt Sempill made 54 in Cumbria’s failed chase but it was Fletcher’s three for 11 which earned Northumberland their second win of the season.

Shropshire got home by an even narrower margin – one run – in the first match against Staffordshire at Burslem where Milford Hall’s Sahal Malvernkar made 85 on his debut.

Malvernkar played one Championship match for Staffordshire in 2022 and was still registered with them until late last week. His 51-ball innings contained five sixes and Malvernkar shared a second wicket stand of 91 with Tom Fell (52 from 26 balls).

Former Warwickshire and England Under-19 batter Liam Banks (and ex-Derbyshire man Nils Priestley (49) responded with an opening partnership of 92 which got Staffordshire halfway to their target of 184.

But the innings lost momentum after Banks holed out to long-on for a competition-best 74 from 44 balls and the run out of big-hitter Liam Hurt in the final over proved decisive.

Rain during the interval threatened to wash out the second match but it cleared in time to allow a five overs contest – the minimum required to constitute a contest.

Malvernkar again top-scored, this time with 21 not out, out of Shropshire’s 37 for five which was not quite enough to deny Staffordshire.

Hurt was pushed up the order and thumped the fifth ball of Joe Stanley’s final over to the boundary to finish 17 not out and clinch a seven wickets win.

Both of the double-headers in Group Three and Group Four were shared with Buckinghamshire avenging a five wickets defeat against Bedfordshire in the opener at Chesham with a 33 runs win in the second match.

Buckinghamshire captain Alexei Kervezee rescued his side from a precarious 35 for five in the first match with an unbeaten 65 which lifted them to 124 for six. Former Sussex seamer Abi Sakande caused Buckinghamshire’s early difficulties with three for 11 in his first three overs.

But Bedfordshire paced their chase to perfection and got home with three balls to spare thanks to solid contributions from Jake Tarling (35) and Danyaal Khalid (39).

Aadi Sharma, back with his native county having recently made his first-class debut for Northamptonshire, shone in the second match with a competition-best 67 (39 balls with four sixes) with useful supporting innings from George Harvey (29) and Ross Richardson (27).

Joe Johnson led Bedfordshire’s chase with an aggressive 62 from 38 balls but slow left-armer Teddy Fleming, back in Buckinghamshire’s side after a two-year absence, checked their progress with a competition-best four for 29 which sealed a 33 runs win.

Wales NC enjoyed the day’s most emphatic win as they beat Oxfordshire by ten wickets in the opener at Panteg but they were unable to back it up and went down by five wickets in the second match.

Sussex all-rounder Dan Ibrahim top-scored with 39 in Oxfordshire’s inadequate 119 for seven in the first match with Wales responding with an unbroken opening partnership of 120 between Glamorgan staff man Callum Nicholls (61 not out) and Harry Friend (56 not out) – both competition-bests – which saw them home with three overs to spare.

But Wales struggled for runs against the spin of Ahmed Khan (three for 15) in the second match with Rhodri Lewis’s 30 helping them to 112 for seven. Hayden Rossouw’s 62 from 52 balls nursed Oxfordshire to victory with just one ball to spare.

There was a last ball thriller in the opener at Wimborne where Dorset beat Herefordshire by two wickets in Group Four.

Seamer James Rudge, who took five wickets against Wiltshire two weeks ago, followed up with three for 25 but was unable to prevent Dorset’s Matt Burton scampering two byes from his final ball of the match.

Dylan Church’s 57 from 29 balls was the centrepiece of Dorset’s innings with Herefordshire captain Matt Pardoe making 60 from 37 balls in his side’s 135 for seven.

Dorset also made 135 – but were all out – in the second match with Will Tripcony the major contributor with 66 from 33 balls.

Seth Essenhigh, the Worcestershire Academy and England Under-19s batter, impressed in his second innings for Herefordshire with 42 but it was Ollie Walker, with 59 from 46 balls, who accelerated them towards victory by five wickets with three balls to spare.

Devon bounced back from losing twice against Cornwall two weeks ago to beat Wiltshire by six wickets in the first match of the day at the South Wilts club in Salisbury.

Jake Goodwin’s competition-best 80 and Jack Mynott’s 40 took Wiltshire to 169 for five but Callum Harvey countered with 78 not out from 53 balls – also a career-best – which steered Devon home with two balls to spare.

There was another competition-best – Tom Cheater’s 50 – in the second match which saw Wiltshire to 132 all out and an innings that gained importance as Devon struggled to 121 for nine with no batter reaching 20.

National Counties T20

Group One

Burslem. Match One: Shropshire 183-5 (Sahal Malvernkar 85, Tom Fell 52), Staffordshire 182-7 (Liam Banks 74, Nils Priestley 49). Shropshire won by one run.

Match Two: Shropshire 37-5, Staffordshire 41-3. Staffordshire won by seven wickets.

Keswick: Cumbria v Northumberland. Match One abandoned.

Match Two: Northumberland 107-8 (Sam Sharp 3-12), Cumbria 104-7 (Matt Sempill 54, Callum Fletcher 3-11). Northumberland won by three runs.

Group Two

Ipswich School. Match One: Suffolk 127-7, Cambridgeshire 116-8 (Yousuf Choudhary 33, Josh Cantrell 4-12). Suffolk won by 11 runs.

Match Two: Suffolk 160-3 (Adam Jones 85 not out), Cambridgeshire 134 (Nicky Kirkwood 37, Freddie Cloud 3-19, Dan Shanks 3-27). Suffolk won by 26 runs.

Welwyn Garden City. Match One: Lincolnshire 125-4 (Nic Keast 48), Hertfordshire 128-4 (Archie Harrison 42 not out). Hertfordshire won by six wickets.

Match Two: Lincolnshire 133-9 (Ben Jones 40, Ben Waring 4-19, Troy Henry 3-27), Hertfordshire 139-1 (Archie Harrison 59 not out, Callum Taylor 56 not out). Hertfordshire won by nine wickets.

Group Three

Chesham. Match One: Buckinghamshire 124-6 (Alexei Kervezee 65 not out, Ed Bragg 31, Abi Sakande 3-25), Bedfordshire 125-5 (Danyaal Khalid 39, Jake Tarling 35). Bedfordshire won by five wickets.

Match Two: Buckinghamshire 182-6 (Aadi Sharma 67), Bedfordshire 149 (Joe Johnson 62, Teddy Fleming 4-19). Buckinghamshire won by 33 runs.

Panteg. Match One: Oxfordshire 119-7 (Dan Ibrahim 39, Rhodri Lewis 3-22), Wales NC 120-0 (Callum Nicholls 61 not out, Harry Friend 56 not out). Wales NC won by ten wickets.

Match Two: Wales NC 112-7 (Rhodri Lewis 30, Ahmed Khan 3-15), Oxfordshire 116-5 (Hayden Rossouw 62). Oxfordshire won by five wickets.

Group Four

Wimborne. Match One: Herefordshire 135-7 (Matt Pardoe 60), Dorset 136-8 (Dylan Church 57, James Rudge 3-25). Dorset won by two wickets.

Match Two: Dorset 135 (Will Tripcony 66, Hasan Mahmood 3-14, Imaad Mahmood 3-16), Herefordshire 136-5 (Ollie Walker 59, Seth Essenhigh 42, Joe Carson 3-33). Herefordshire won by five wickets.

 South Wilts CC. Match One: Wiltshire 169-5 (Jake Goodwin 80, Jack Mynott 40), Devon 170-4 (Callum Harvey 78 not out). Devon won by six wickets.

Match Two: Wiltshire 132 (Tom Cheater 50), Devon 121-9 (Will Brown 3-34). Wiltshire won by 11 runs.