Over three months after rain washed out the cricket Cumbria travel to Chester Boughton Hall on Sunday for the rearranged NCCA T20 competition finals day.
At the end of May the first semi-final was left incomplete after delays on Match Day and then no play was deemed possible on the reserve day.
This Sunday was the first free weekend on to which the Finals Day could be rearranged and Cumbria will play Oxfordshire in the first semi-final.
Considering that Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Staffordshire are all Durant Championship Division One counties and all past winners of the NCCA T20 competition, it is fair to say that Cumbria go into the weekend as complete outsiders.
The County does however return to Chester Boughton Hall with a stronger squad than in May.
Only six players remain from the earlier encounter. Club Captain Michael Slack returns after surgery to a side which has not won since his injury in the Super 12 stage of the T20 competition.
Will Fraine makes his T20 debut for the County after scoring a County record 235 against Norfolk in the final championship game (almost a month ago).
Wicket-keeper Matthew Reed retains his place after his debut in that last match against Norfolk. Evan Williams returns to the County side for the first time since mid- July after his century against Cambridgeshire and a stand-out half century against Lancashire in the Showcase.
Paul Hindmarch is selected for the first time since 2022 after strong performances for Keswick in the second half of the season whilst Josh Stirling also returns to a T20 squad for the first time since 2022 when he debuted against Staffordshire bowling Riki Wessels for 1.
The other three counties have yet to name a squad.
Berkshire and Staffordshire, of course, have just finished the Durant Cricket Championship final at West Bromwich Dartmouth which they shared in a drawn match.
Berkshire’s batsmen demonstrated their form with Johnny Connell, Rhys Lewis and Josh Lincoln all scoring centuries.
Tommy Sturgess, joining from Cornwall over the winter took five wickets in the Staffordshire first innings.
Clearly a County with players in form and coupled with their coach’s analysis provided on every opposition player may well start as favourites although they are yet to win a Trophy outright this season.
They will however be planning to increase their record over the last 20 years which must be the envy of all other Counties: they have won the One Day Trophy eight times since 2004, the Championship five since 2016 and the T20 Cup in 2018.
The majority of their squad playing so far this year are proven winners at this level and in captain Dan Lincoln, Euan Woods and Andy Rishton they have three players who have won this particular trophy way back in 2018.
Staffordshire’s experienced top order of captain James Kettleborough, Matthew Morris and Tom Moulton all scored runs against Berkshire last weekend, whilst spinner Tom Brett took five wickets in the championship final.
Nils Priestley won the NCCA T20 MVP last year with a devastating century which was largely responsible for knocking out Berkshire in a semi-final match-up due to be repeated on Sunday.
Staffordshire winners last year are there by merit after two comprehensive ‘away’ wins in the Super 12s stage despite enjoying a reprieve after apparently being knocked out in the Group stages this year.
They were the only away side to win through in the Super 12s stage when they bowled out their opposition twice for scores of 82 and 83 to demonstrate their strength. The greatly experienced Nils Priestley, Liam Hurt, Zen Malik and Tom Brett taking the majority (15) of their wickets in the Super 12s. Their captain James Kettleborough is their leading scorer.
In Harrison Ward Oxfordshire have not only one of the leaders in the NCCA T20 MVP this year but someone who took the Lancashire bowling attack to task to secure Sussex a place in their T20 Finals Day.
For Oxfordshire he has scored 240 runs at a Strike Rate of 164 so far this campaign. Zion Lion-Cachet is also contracted at Sussex having played in the majority of early T20 rounds this season.
They also have the possibility of being able to call on the Price and Charlesworth brothers contracted at Gloucestershire, all of whom who started in Oxfordshire’s Age Groups.
Through their close links with Sussex, they have also been able to, on occasion in the early rounds, select the Sussex trio of Henry Crocombe, Danial Ibrahim and Sean Hunt.
In Tom Hinley (recently playing for Worcestershire in the Metro Bank One Day cup) they also have this season’s competition’s leading wicket taker. Whoever plays it will be a side full of home-grown talent.
Cumbria play Oxfordshire in the first semi-final which starts at 10am, The second semi-final starts at 1.15pm with the final scheduled for 4.30pm.
