T20 Week 3 Review - Sunday

Worcestershire batter Jake Libby helped Cornwall to end Dorset’s unbeaten start to their National Counties T20 campaign with an important half-century in the Group Two double-header at Milton Abbey School. 

Dorset won the opening match by 41 runs to make it four wins from their first games in the competition but Libby helped Cornwall gain quick revenge with a nine runs victory in the second game of the day. 

Libby, making his first appearance for Cornwall in five years, made 77 from 54 balls – including four sixes – and batted for all but three balls of the innings. 

Cornwall’s total of 132 for four was five more than Dorset defended in the first game and it proved too many for the hosts in their first-ever visit to Milton Abbey near Blandford Forum. 

Libby’s former Worcestershire team-mate Ross Whiteley, now with Hampshire, threatened to take Dorset to victory with 41 from 29 balls but the innings imploded after he departed with the last five wickets going down for 13 runs. 

Will MacVicar, the former Loughborough MCCU all-rounder, impressed as Cornwall’s new professional as he scythed through the tail to finish with five for 19. 

Earlier Dorset’s home-reared Hampshire all-rounder Tom Prest had taken five for 15 in three overs as Cornwall collapsed from 59 for two to 86 all out in the opening match. 

Paul Smith, Cornwall’s new captain, made 34 and shared a second wicket partnership of 40 with Libby (40) but the innings quickly unravelled after the alliance was broken. 

Libby took two for 28 in four overs of off-spin but Sam Young (43) and Hampshire rookie Joe Eckland (22) laid the foundations for Dorset’s competitive total by adding 48 for the first wicket. 

The other Group Two double-header between Devon and Herefordshire was cancelled because of a waterlogged ground at Sandford. 

Hertfordshire made it four straight wins by completing a double over Norfolk – both by six wickets - at Manor Park in Group Three, the only one of the four groups not to be affected by rain. 

Opener Joe Latham enjoyed a productive day for Hertfordshire with 51 in the opener and 45 in the second game. 

Former Northamptonshire batter Ben Curran marked his debut as Norfolk’s white ball professional with a half century in the first match and his opening partnership of 68 with Sam Arthurton should have produced a more substantial total. 

But Norfolk then lost five wickets for 14 and ended on 118 for seven. Thanks to Latham and a second wicket stand of 66 between Reece Hussain (32) and Charlie Scott (27) Hertfordshire got home with five balls to spare. 

Latham led another perfectly-paced chase of a target of 147 in the second match with Alan Jones with his fourth wicket partnership of 73 with Alan Jones (51 not out) seeing Hertfordshire home with an over to spare. 

Norfolk’s innings also included solid batting down the order led by Ben Wilcox’s half century and other useful contributions from Curran (36), Freddie Fairey (23) and Arthurton (21). 

Honours were even in the other Group Three double-header at Woodhall Spa where Lincolnshire won the opener by six wickets and Suffolk the second by five wickets. 

Ben Wright top scored for Lincolnshire in both matches with 38 not out in the opener and 59 in the second. 

Suffolk were one for three after nine balls of the opener and nine for four at one stage but they recovered to 107 for eight thanks to Tom Harper (28 not out), Josh Cantrell (27), Tom Rash (17) and Darren Ironside (17). 

Wright and Jordan Cook (26 not out) shared an unbroken fifth wicket partnership of 50 that got Lincolnshire home with three balls to spare. 

In the second match Wright and Tom Keast (23) added 74 for the third wicket but both fell to Suffolk’s Northamptonshire left-arm wrist spinner Freddie Heldreich and only five runs were scored in the last three overs. 

Suffolk stumbled earlier in their chase but former Worcestershire and Leicestershire batter George Rhodes organised the recovery with 27 from 22 balls and Rash (21 not out) and Cantrell (18 not out) completed the job with an unbroken sixth wicket partnership of 46. 

Berkshire took a firm grip on Group Four with a double over Bedfordshire at Wargrave. 

They eased to a seven wickets victory in a low-scoring opener but were stretched in the second by Bedfordshire’s Worcestershire batter Kashif Ali. 

Ali struck four sixes in his 51-ball 60 and appeared to be taking Bedfordshire to victory until he lifted Luke Beaven to long off from the first ball of the penultimate over when 17 were needed for victory. 

Beaven and Andy Rishton conceded just five runs in the last two overs and Bedfordshire were left to rue the collective failure of the five other members of their top six who mustered just 20 between them. 

Bedfordshire also struggled in the opener, limping to 71 for eight in their 20 overs having been 43 for four at the halfway stage of the innings. 

Berkshire’s quartet of spinners returned combined figures of 13-1-47-7 with leg-spinner Shaariq Sheikh taking three for ten in his second appearance for the county and first in the competition. 

Credit: Roger Bryne - @rogerbphotos

Berkshire’s made light work of their chase, getting home with 58 balls to spare with Jack Davies, back from Middlesex duty, making 35 not out. 

Davies was also Berkshire’s top scorer with 27 in the second match but it Charlie Dunnett (25) and Sheikh (20) that got them to a total that proved just enough to see off Bedfordshire. 

The other Group Four double-header between Wales NC and Buckinghamshire at Lisvane was washed out, ending Buckinghamshire’s chances of topping the Group and progressing to Finals Day. 

Wales, who have yet to take the field this season, will hope it is third time lucky when they face Bedfordshire at Ampthill on Monday while Berkshire tackle defending champions Oxfordshire at Thame. 

Cumbria suffered a second successive double washout against Northumberland at Barrow in a particularly soggy Group One. 

Nine of the scheduled matches in the group have failed to produce a result with Staffordshire winning two of those that have managed to dodge the rain. 

Their opening match against Shropshire at Leek was abandoned after a delayed start and a stoppage because of a slipper outfield with Staffordshire 99 for four from 11.1 overs with skipper James Kettleborough (34 not out) going well. 

There was then a lengthy delay before the second match got underway with further rain reducing it to a ten overs-a-side contest. 

Former Derbyshire all-rounder Nils Priestley again enjoyed the reduced format as he clobbered five sixes in his 20-ball 58 which totally dominated an opening partnership of 60 with Liam Banks. 

Shropshire, batting for the first time this season, looked predictably ring rusty and never threatened to get close to a target of 117 having slumped to nine for three. 

Former Lancashire seamer Liam Hurt’s only over was a double wicket maiden, Sam Atkinson took two for eight in his two overs and Tom Brett two for 14 in his as Shropshire limped to 48 for seven. 

Cheshire, who have also to bowl a ball in anger, host Staffordshire at Nantwich on Monday with Shropshire facing Cumbria at Wem. 

Elsewhere Wiltshire will give a debut to former Devon batter James Degg against Dorset at Warminster, who studying at Solent University in Southampton, has been named in a Wiltshire side that again includes Warwickshire left-arm wrist spinner Jake Lintott. 

National Counties T20 

Group One 

Barrow: Cumbria v Northumberland. Both matches abandoned. 

Leek: Staffordshire 99-4 (James Kettleborough 34 not out) v Shropshire. No result. Staffordshire 116-3 (Nils Priestley 58), Shropshire 48-7. Staffordshire won by 68 runs. 

Group Two 

Milton Abbey School: Dorset 127-6 (Sam Young 43), Cornwall 86 (Tom Prest 5-15). Dorset won by 41 runs. Cornwall 132-4 (Jake Libby 77), Dorset 123 (Ross Whiteley 41, Will MacVicar 5-19). Cornwall won by nine runs. 

Sandford: Devon v Herefordshire. Both matches abandoned. 

Group Three: 

Woodhall Spa: Suffolk 107-8, Lincolnshire 110-4 (Ben Wright 38 not out). Lincolnshire won by six wickets. Lincolnshire 119-7 (Ben Wright 59, Freddie Heldreich 3-23), Suffolk 122-5. Suffolk won by five wickets. 

Horsford: Norfolk 118-7 (Ben Curran 50), Hertfordshire 124-4 (James Latham 51). Hertfordshire won by six wickets. Norfolk 146-5 (Ben Wilcox 51, Ben Curran 36), Hertfordshire 149-4 (James Latham 45, Alan Jones 41 not out). Hertfordshire won by six wickets. 

Group Four 

Wargrave: Bedfordshire 71-8 (Shaariq Sheikh 3-10), Berkshire 72-3 (Jack Davies 34 not out). Berkshire won by seven wickets. Berkshire 120, Bedfordshire 109-8 (Kashif Ali 60). Berkshire won by 11 runs. 

Lisvane: Wales NC v Buckinghamshire. Both matches abandoned.