It might be billed as the battle to avoid the wooden spoon – Norfolk versus Cumbria in the Eastern Division Two.
The two sides currently prop up the table with Cumbria on 21 points to Norfolk’s 13 but that does come from an extra game played by Matthew Sempill’s men.
However, all four sides in the Division are hoping to make up ground on the current leaders Hertfordshire who do not play this round.
Although they have only played two matches, no Norfolk player has scored a century in the Championship yet this season.
Top scorer with 119 Championship runs is the prolific Sam Arthurton who has scored 959 runs across all formats this season (by contrast Cumbria’s highest run scorer across all format is Freddie Fallows with 421).
Sam King (Nottinghamshire), Ethan Metcalf and Charlie Hood have also hit Championship half-centuries for the home side. Bowling wise the wickets have been shared across their bowlers with none taking more than 4 wickets so far.
The match should feature both players leading the NCCA Most Valuable Player awards for 2024. Arthurton was leading the One Day Trophy MVP standings prior to the semi finals in which he scored his second century in the competition.
Likewise Freddie Fallows was joint top of the Championship MVP standings prior to the last round when he scored 100 in 39 balls and took seven wickets.
Although the NCCA have not updated the standings in the last fortnight, it’s safe to assume they are both probably still ahead in the standings.
Norfolk are yet to announce their team but they complete their Championship programme next week at home to Cambridgeshire.
Cumbria will go into action with: Matthew Sempill (Cockermouth, capt), Josh Brown (Cockermouth), Sam Dutton (Kendal), Freddie Fallows (Kendal), Will Fraine (York), Reece Irving (Netherfield), Ed Moulton (Chorley), Greg Platten (Cockermouth), Matthew Reed (Wigton, wk), Ben Walkden (Newton-le-Willows) and Nico Watt (Carlisle).
It’s an anticipated return to the County side for Sam Dutton who has missed the last three matches and for Greg Platten who last played in 2019. Matthew Reed is scheduled to make his debut as wicket-keeper after playing for the County Development side. It will also mean that 31 players have been selected this season compared to just 20 last year.
To date the two sides have met each other 31 times in the championship, with Cumbria winning eight, Norfolk seven, with 15 drawn and one abandoned.
Scheduled start time is 11am on Sunday with the game continuing on Monday and Tuesday.
Norfolk’s YouTube channel for the live stream is https://www.youtube.com/@NorfolkCCC
