With limited overs cricket finished for another year Cumbria turn their attention to three-day Championship action.
It’s the start of the NCCA Cluberly Championship on Sunday at Furness against Hertfordshire in Eastern Division Two, the first of four, two at home and two away.
In Championship matches each side have two innings, the first limited to 90 overs, over 3 days representing a different challenge to the 50 over and T20 formats.
Cumbria have demonstrated the difficulties over the past few years when they have from time to time found themselves in a match winning position, notably against Cambridgeshire and Northumberland both of who now play in Division One, but ended up losing after a single bad session.
The harsh realities are that the county have not won a three-day game since 2022 and it is 2018 since they won two three-day matches in a season. Although just prior to that, in 2015, Cumbria were Minor County Champions.
In Hertfordshire they will be up against a side who, like Cumbria, did not win a three-day game last year.
This season Herts have lost all their One Day Trophy games and like Cumbria had a disappointing Twenty20 series winning just two matches. Both sides will be looking for a morale boosting win.
The two sides have played each other 35 times since 1983, both winning eight times but 16 games have been drawn, with three abandoned.
Once again Hertfordshire are captained by Ben Waring, now with the experience of 120 games with Hertfordshire but back in 2015 he was Wisden’s School cricketer of the year. Jack Plom has represented England under-19s and played just over a dozen games for Essex across all formats.
Captain Michael Slack returns to lead the Cumbria side in which three players – Tom Fraine, Ethan Hardie-Knight and Ed Wade – are scheduled to make Championship debuts. They will be the 465th, 466th and 467th players for the county in the Championship.
- Cumbria: Michael Slack (Carlisle, capt), Louis Backhouse (Kendal), Freddie Fallows (Kendal), Tom Fraine (Clifton Alliance), Ethan Hardie Knight (Cockermouth), Drew Postlethwaite (Barrow, wk), Matthew Sempill (Cockermouth), Sam Sharp (Penrith), Ed Wade (Clifton Alliance), Nathan Waterston (Milom), Max Winskill (Kendal).
- Hertfordshire: Ben Waring (Chelmsford, capt), Dominic Chatfield (Radlett), Sam Davis (Bishops Stortford), Jake Gordon (Bishops Stortford), Alex Gosling (Harpenden), Ed Hales (Broxbourne, wk), Finn Kelsey (Midsomer Norton), Dan Orchard (Hertford), Jack Plom (Sawbridgeworth), Cole Seggery (West Herts), Nafis Shaikh (West Herts).
With the weather looking good in the Barrow area there should be three days of good cricket ahead to watch, whilst the match will also be live streamed on youtube.
Start time 11am Sunday continuing on Monday and Tuesday.
