Durant Cricket NCCA Championship Final - Preview

Berkshire have included seamer Tommy Sturgess in their side for the Durant Cricket National Counties Championship final against Staffordshire at West Bromwich Dartmouth starting on Sunday.

Sturgess, a winter recruit from Cornwall, played in Berkshire’s opening Championship match of the season against Devon but was then signed by Worcestershire for their Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign.

He played in five of their group matches but when Worcestershire’s interest in the competition ended with a quarter-final defeat by Warwickshire two weeks ago, so did Sturgess’s short-term contract.

Sturgess comes straight back into Berkshire’s side for the four-day final as one of two changes to the side that drew with Oxfordshire to clinch the Western Division title.

All-rounder Andy Rishton and batter Archie Carter are both unavailable for the final because of work commitments so Sturgess and batter Matt Dalrymple have been called up. Dalrymple will make his Championship debut having played in Berkshire’s white ball side this season.

There are six survivors in Berkshire’s side from the 2022 final when they took the title for the fifth time in six seasons by virtue of their first innings lead in a drawn rain-ravaged match against Lincolnshire at West Bromwich Dartmouth.

Berkshire surrendered their Western Division crown to Devon last year but regained it in impressive style with three straight wins followed by a high-scoring draw with Oxfordshire at the Falkland club in Newbury.

This will be only the second time that Berkshire and Staffordshire have met in the Championship final, the last being five years ago when Berkshire edged a low-scoring thriller at Banbury by one wicket.

There are three survivors from that match in Berkshire’s side for Sunday – captain Dan Lincoln, all-rounder Euan Woods and slow left-armer Luke Beaven and just two – Michael Hill and Matt Morris – in Staffordshire’s..

Beaven, who made one appearance for Surrey in 2014, has missed much of the season with a badly damaged hand, an injury he sustained at work.

But he returned to action in time to help Berkshire secure an important victory over Cheshire at Nantwich last month with nine wickets in the match and he followed up with four more in the draw with Oxfordshire.

Beaven’s battle with Staffordshire slow left-armer Tom Brett is likely to be one of the key head-to-heads in an intriguing final with Brett going into the match having taken 26 wickets in his last three matches, including 12 in the match against Buckinghamshire.

In last season’s final at West Bromwich Dartmouth Buckinghamshire slow left-armer Conner Haddow returned match figures of eight for 37 to spin Devon to defeat which followed his nine wicket match haul against Staffordshire on the same ground earlier in the campaign.

Staffordshire have made one change to the side that beat Buckinghamshire with Checkley’s 19-year-old batter James Abbotts called up for his debut.

Abbotts, a club-mate of Staffordshire skipper James Kettleborough, has scored heavily this season. He is a product of Staffordshire’s youth system and comes into the squad as a replacement for Lewis Moulton.

Staffordshire were given clearance by Warwickshire to include batter Zen Malik, who signed his first professional contract with the first-class county earlier this month, but the player has opted to sit out the final.

Staffordshire are also missing pace bowler Rory Haydon who is having trials with Derbyshire and they require him for a Second XI Championship match in Sussex starting on Tuesday.

Staffordshire will be seeking to win the Championship for the 14th time – but first since 2014 – while Berkshire will be looking to add their twelfth piece of silverware in eight seasons to an already bulging trophy cabinet.

In addition to their five Championship titles they won the National Counties Trophy five times between 2017 and 2023 and the National Counties T20 in 2018.

Berkshire and Staffordshire will meet again the semi-final of the T20 competition on the re-schduled Finals Day at Chester Boughton Hall on September 8.

But if the Championship final should end in a draw the title will be shared for the first time since 2005 as counties have voted to scrap the first innings lead rule.

Staffordshire: James Kettleborough (C), Matt Morris, Tom Moulton, Reeve Evitts, Michael Hill, Callum Hawkins, James Abbotts, Sam Atkinson, Liam Hurt, Oliver Tucker, Tom Brett.

Berkshire: Rhys Lewis, Johnny Connell, Euan Woods, Charlie Dunnett, Dan Lincoln (C), Rhodri Lewis, Matt Dalrymple, Dan O’Driscoll, Toby Greatwood, Tommy Sturgess, Luke Beaven.