Cumbria play their final match in the NCCA Cluberly Championship over three days, starting on Sunday.
Norfolk are the visitors to the Netherfield club which is a must win match for both teams for different reasons.
If Cumbria do not win they will come bottom of Eastern Division Two for the third year in succession.
Norfolk still have a chance of promotion should they win but only if the match between Northumberland and Bedfordshire is drawn.
Norfolk have benefitted this year from a settled side, as they are the only county to have used less than 20 players.
Eight of the players selected for this match were part of Norfolk’s side which added the Twenty 20 cup on Sunday to the One Day Trophy which the county won in 2024.
The three changes are captain and talisman Sam Arthurton returns after injury; Nottinghamshire’s Sam King is available after recently playing in Metrobank One Day Cup (with a HS of 67 against Surrey for Notts) and Nathan Muggeridge will make his debut. Lewis Reeder is 12th man. Hamidullah Qadri is their pro who has previously played for England Under-19s, Derbyshire and Kent.
Stars of last weekend’s T20 final win at Wormsley were stand-in captain Ben Wilcox (73 from 49) and bowlers Callum Metcalf and Brett Stolworthy who combined for 5/30 in their 8 overs.
Wilcox had previously showed his big match mentality with a match winning 135* from 127 balls in last year’s NCCA One Day Trophy Final.
Last year’s match between the two sides saw Cumbria hit both their highest (411/8) and lowest (103) totals against Norfolk and will be remembered for WIll Fraine’s record innings of 235.
Over the years the two sides have played each other 32 times in the Championship with each side winning eight times.
Cumbria captain Michael Slack is named in the side for the first time since June against Cheshire which was a brief return (he did not bat or bowl) having previously picked up an injury in May.
Kendal pair Freddie Fallows and Louis Backhouse have both been playing for the Challengers (previously known as the NCCA Representative side) this week against the Zimbabwe Academy.
Announced teams are:
Cumbria: Michael Slack (Carlisle, capt), Louis Backhouse (Kendal), Ben Davidson (Carlisle), Freddie Fallows (Kendal), Ed Moulton (Chorley), Drew Postlethwaite (Barrow, wk), Matthew Sempill (Cockermouth), Sam Sharp (Kendal), Ben Walkden (Newton-le-Willows), Nathan Waterston (Millom) and Max Winskill (Kendal).
Norfolk: Sam Arthurton (Copdock and Old Ipswichian, capt), Ben Wilcox (Downham Stow), Sam King (Nottinghamshire CCC and Plumtree), Charlie Hood (Horsford, wk), Arthur Wilcox (Downham Stow), Hamidullah Qadri (Alvaston and Boulton), Nathan Muggeridge (Great Witchingham), Callum Metcalf (Horsford), Joe Everett (Ashmanhaugh and Barton Wanderers), Brett Stolworthy (Downham Stow), Andy Hanby (Copdock and Old Ipswichian) and Lewis Reeder (Swardeston).
The match will be live streamed on Cumbria’s Youtube channel and is scheduled to start at 11am on Sunday, continuing on Monday and Tuesday.
