NCCA T20 Super 12s - Review

T20 Finals Day - Wormsley - Sunday 24th August. Get Tickets!

Dorset, Norfolk, Northumberland and Oxfordshire booked their places at the National Counties T20 Finals Day after they topped their respective groups in today’s Super-12s round.

They will now go forward to Wormsley on Sunday August 24 when the two semi-finals and final will be played.

It will be a first-ever visit to Finals Day for Northumberland who finished top of Group Three by beating hosts Cambridgeshire by four wickets in the opener at Sawston then chasing down a target of 171 to beat Cumbria by eight wickets in the decider.

Cumbria batter Freddie Fallows clobbered 74 from just 22 balls with all his runs – 11 fours and five sixes – coming boundaries. But he was eclipsed by Northumberland’s third wicket pair of Alasdair Appleby (65 not out from 41 balls) and John Oswell (67 not out from 34 balls) who swept their side to an eight wickets win with more than three overs to spare.

Dorset, who won the National Counties Trophy last month, made Finals Day for the first time since 2019 by beating hosts Berkshire by 60 runs at Wargrave and Suffolk by five wickets in the final match of the day.

Dorset’s win over Suffolk eliminated Berkshire who had kept alive their hopes alive by beating Suffolk by 45 runs in the second match of the day.

Oxfordshire, who won the T20 competition in 2022, booked their passage by winning a severely rain-affected Group Four at Wadebridge.

The opening match of the day between Cornwall and Wales NC was washed out and the other two matches were reduced to five-over-a-side contests with Oxfordshire beating Wales by 17 runs and Cornwall by 22 runs in the second.

Norfolk, who won the National Counties Trophy at Wormsley last year, secured a return visit to the ground and a first trip to Finals Day since 2018 by beating hosts Staffordshire and Herefordshire at Moddershall to top Group two. All three matches were reduced to ten overs-a-side after morning rain delayed proceedings.

Staffordshire never recovered from losing Nils Priestley and Matt Morris in successive balls from Joe Everett who finished with three for nine in his two overs.

A late spurt from Callum Hawkins got Staffordshire to 66 for six but Norfolk got home with an over to spare with Ben Wilcox making 24.

Staffordshire, winners in 2023 which was the last time the competition produced a winner following washouts last year, were eliminated when they were beaten by six wickets by Herefordshire in the next match.

Staffordshire’s laboured to 60 for nine with seamer Roshan Venkataraman taking three for 11 on his first bowl of the season following his recovery from injury.

But it almost proved enough as Herefordshire struggled in turn until James Rudge was pushed up the order and he clinched victory by striking three fours in Rory Haydon’s final over of the match including the winning runs off the last ball.

Herefordshire’s win set up a shoot-out with Norfolk and they gave themselves a good chance of making Finals Day for the first time when they made 95 for six in their ten overs. But an opening stand of 82 between Freddie Fairey (40) and Sam Arthurton (34) tookNorfolk most of the way to victory.

Cambridgeshire were the first side to be eliminated as they followed defeat by Northumberland with a six wickets defeat by Cumbria with Fallows again in superb form, with 70 from 49 balls after James Cox had reduced them to two for two.

Dorset’s double at Wargrave included three for 19 against Suffolk from Scotland and Sussex seamer Brad Currie on his first appearance for his native county in three years.

Hampshire’s Joe Eckland, another homegrown Dorset product, made 51 in the victory over Berkshire and followed up with 33 against Suffolk.

Worcestershire left-arm wrist spinner Tom Hinley and Sussex batter Harrison Ward also made their marks for Oxfordshire. Hinley took two wickets against Wales on his seasonal debut and then took three for 12 and Tom Davis three for 13 to help restrict Cornwall to 30 for seven in pursuit of a target of 53.

Ward made half of Oxfordshire’s 68 for three against Wales and 30 against Cornwall, sharing an opening partnership of 51 with Dylan Driscoll.

National Counties T20

Super-12s

Wargrave

Match 1: Dorset 177-6 (Joe Eckland 51, Dylan Church 48), Berkshire 117 (Connor Smith 3-21, Mo Abbas 3-23). Dorset won by 60 runs.

Match 2: Berkshire 169-4 (Jonny Connell 90, Dan Lincoln 51 not out), Suffolk 124-8 (Alex Maynard 50, Samm Daniel 4-18). Berkshire won by 45 runs.

Match 3: Suffolk 131-7 (Ollie Burle 44 not out, Kieran Pell 36, Brad Currie 3-19, Joe Carson 3-33), Dorset 133-5 (Will Tripcony, Joe Eckland 33). Dorset won by five wickets.

Moddershall

Match 1: Staffordshire 66-6 (Joe Everett 3-9), Norfolk 70-3. Norfolk won by seven wickets.

Match 2: Staffordshire 60-9 (Roshan Venkataraman 3-11), Herefordshire 64-4. Herefordshire won by six wickets.

Match 3: Herefordshire 95-6, Norfolk 96-2 (Freddie Fairey 40, Sam Arthurton 34). Norfolk won by eight wickets.

Sawston

Match 1: Cambridgeshire 153-8 (Aum Patel 61, Wayne White 33), Northumberland 154-6 (Chris Youldon 42 not out). Northumberland won by four wickets.

Match 2: Cambridgeshire 113-7, Cumbria 116-4 (Freddie Fallows 70, James Cox 3-20). Cumbria won by six wickets.

Match 3: Cumbria 170-8 (Freddie Fallows 74, Matt Sempill 32, Callum Fletcher 3-22), Northumberland 172-2 (John Oswell 67 not out, Alasdair Appleby 65 not out). Northumberland won by eight wickets.

Wadebridge

Match 1: Cornwall v Wales NC. Abandoned.

Match 2: Oxfordshire 68-3 (Harrison Ward 34), Wales NC 51-5. Oxfordshire won by 17 runs.

Match 3: Oxfordshire 52-3 (Harrison Ward 30), Cornwall 30-7 (Tom Hinley 3-12, Tom Davis 3-13). Oxfordshire won by 22 runs.