National Counties Trophy Review Week 1 - Monday

Berkshire slumped to a heavy defeat against Hertfordshire in their opening match of their defence of the National Counties Trophy at Henley. 

Berkshire, aiming to win the competition for a fourth successive season, were spun out for 107 by Hertfordshire slow left-armer Ben Waring, who took five for 21, and were beaten by 85 runs. 

Only Charlie Dunnett and Euan Woods topped 20 in Berkshire’s innings with former Essex seamer Jack Plom playing a valuable supporting role to Waring with three for 33. 

Earlier Dominic Chatfield made 60, the only half-century of the match, and shared an opening stand of 66 with James Latham. 

David Burnell’s patient 33 also proved valuable against Berkshire’s four-pronged spin attack. 

Cornwall, beaten by Staffordshire in last week’s National Counties T20 final, bounced back by beating Devon by 36 runs in the other Group Two match at Truro. 

Half centuries from Jack Paull, Will MacVicar and captain Paul Smith laid the foundations for Cornwall’s imposing 303 for eight but their valuable cameos down the order from debutant Kian Roberts (32) and Tommy Sturgess (32). 

Devon made a spirited response with Josh Thomas and Calum Haggett also making half centuries but they came up short with slow left-armer Max Tryfonos taking five for 38. Tryfonos had taken only two wickets in his previous three matches in the competition. 

Cumbria, beaten by Berkshire in the last three Trophy finals, scrambled a thrilling one wicket victory over Herefordshire at Brockhampton. 

Cumbria looked to be easing to victory when Matt Sempill (69) and Michael Slack (65) added 124 for the fifth wicket but they got the jitters after Sempill was caught behind off a top-edged pull. 

When Slack was ninth out, bowled off the last ball of the penultimate over, Cumbria needed seven for victory but the last wicket pair of Nico Watt and Matt Sidall got them there with Watt turning Roshan Venkataraman for the winning single from the last ball of a compelling contest. 

At one stage it looked as though the pitch – used and with variable bounce – would be the main talking point but Olly Rogoff showed that it was possible to score runs on it with a fluent 87 from 108 balls. 

Venkataraman weighed in with an unbeaten 43 from 32 balls at the end and Cumbria seamer Sam Sharp finished with a competition-best five for 52. 

Northumberland won the other Group One match more comfortably, beating Lincolnshire by six wickets at Scunthorpe. 

Former Leicestershire opener Sam Evans carried his bat for 113 for Lincolnshire and shared a fifth wicket stand of 107 with Jordan Cook (56). 

But the last five wickets went down for 32 and Northumberland paced their chase to perfection. 

Coach Dan Shurben led by example with 41 and he shared a second wicket partnership of 107 with Ross Whitfield. 

Whitfield (83) and Ben Robinson (63 not out) then got Northumberland most of their way to a target of 237 which they reached with 11 overs in hand. 

Cheshire bounced back from defeat by Norfolk on Sunday to beat Suffolk by 81 runs at Mildenhall in Group Three. 

Nick Anderson’s all-round contribution proved decisive with 40 runs and a maiden five wicket haul in the competition. 

Henry Dobson also impressed with 70 on his competition debut and Ben Claydon’s five wicket haul went unrewarded as Suffolk were dismissed for 155.  

Darren Batch made 46 and Jacob Marston 45 but there were six single figures scores in between. 

Wiltshire captain Ed Young steered his side to a three wickets victory over Buckinghamshire at Marlborough College in Group Four. 

The former Gloucestershire all-rounder made 75 from 88 balls which got Wiltshire to within 23 of their target of 241. Chris Aubrey and Arthur Godsal finished the job with four balls to spare. 

Buckinghamshire’s innings was a series of promising starts with five players reaching 26 but only Alexei Kervezee (45) went past 40. 

National Counties Trophy

Group One  

Brockhampton: Herefordshire 227-9 (Olly Rogoff 87, Sam Sharp 5-52),Cumbria 228-9 (Matt Sempill 69, Michael Slack 65). Cumbria won by one wicket.

Scunthorpe: Lincolnshire 236 (Sam Evans 113 not out, Jordan Cook 56), Northumberland 239-4 (Ross Whitfield 83, Ben Robinson 63 not out). Northumberland won by six wickets.  

Group Two  

Henley: Hertfordshire 192 (Dominic Chatfield 60), Berkshire 107 (Ben Waring 5-21). Hertfordshire won by 85 runs.

Truro: Cornwall 303-8 (Jack Paull 63, Paul Smith 60 not out, Will MacVicar 50), Devon 267 (Jack Thomas 70, Calum Haggett 60, Max Tryfonos 5-38). Cornwall won 36 runs. 

Group Three  

Mildenhall: Cheshire 236-9 (Henry Dobson 70, Ben Claydon 5-39), Suffolk155 (Nick Anderson 5-24). Cheshire won by 81 runs.

Group Four  

Marlborough College: Buckinghamshire 240, Wiltshire 243-7 (Ed Young 75). Wiltshire won by three wickets.