Sehmi leading run scorer in last years championship

Photo Credit: Roger Byrne

Rob Sehmi may not have achieved his ambition to knock Berkshire off their perch but he certainly gave them a bloody nose over a sun-baked three days at Nantwich last August. 

Sehmi, Cheshire’s three-day captain, made a superb 108 from 117 balls that led his side to 451 for eight on the opening day of the National Counties Championship Western Division One match  and laid the foundations for a thumping 253 runs win. 

It was the third heaviest defeat by runs margin in Berkshire’s history and their second innings 84 was their lowest total for 16 years. 

Sehmi helped to briefly de-rail Berkshire’s attempt to reclaim their three-day title from Oxfordshire but victory over Herefordshire in their final group match and a first innings lead in a rain-ruined final against Lincolnshire at West Bromwich Dartmouth secured their fifth title in six seasons. 

Sehmi’s consolation was an outstanding personal season with the bat and behind the stumps. Having topped the NCCA Most Valuable Players Rankings for the T20 competition at the start of the season he ended the three-day season as the competition’s leading run-scorer. 

His aggregate of 464 included five scores of 50 or more in eight innings and gave him an average of precisely 58. 

Cheshire will renew their quest to knock Berkshire off their perch this season when the competition, now generously sponsored by Durant Cricket, begins on Sunday July 9. 

Although Cheshire have finished behind both Oxfordshire and Berkshire since promotion and relegation was introduced to the Championship in 2021 they have been very successful in developing homegrown talent for first-class counties. 

Danny Lamb and Rob Jones (Lancashire) and Harry Dearden (Leicestershire) all played their formative county cricket for Cheshire and a quartet of pace bowlers – Ben Aitchison (Derbyshire), Ben Gibbon (Worcestershire), Michael Finan (Leicestershire) and Jack White (Northamptonshire) – are all currently on county contracts. 

There was a time when Macclesfield-born Sehmi hoped for a career in first-class cricket having started his cricketing career in Belgium where he spent 13 years. 

He was born in Macclesfield Sehmi played for Belgium Under-15s, Under-17s and Under-19s and made his senior international debut for the country a month before his 15^th birthday in 2011. 

On his return to England, Sehmi went to Sutton Valence School as a boarder and he trialled extensively with Kent, for whom he played Second XI and Academy cricket, without being offered a contract. 

He went on to Loughborough University and represented MCC Universities in the Second XI Championship before he settled into a job in commercial sales which took him back to Cheshire. 

“Personally I would have loved the opportunity to play first-class cricket but that part of my life might have passed,” Sehmi said. 

“I’m 26 now and I don’t know how many opportunities are still available.”

Learn more about our sponsor and cricket equipment supplier Durant Cricket here