With thanks to Paul Bolton @ NCCA for providing the latest National Counties Cricket Fixtures
There are 18 counties still in contention for places in the quarter-finals of this season’s National Counties Trophy ahead of Sunday’s intriguing penultimate round of group matches.
Only Lincolnshire in Group One and now-deposed defending champions Norfolk in Group Two cannot progress any further although the hopes of a number of other counties, which are currently only mathematical, could be extinguished by Sunday evening.
Northumberland will win Group One and secure a home quarter-final against the Group Two runners-up on June 1 if they can beat Bedfordshire in their final group match at Jesmond.
Northumberland are the only county to have won three matches this season and they have been the highest scorers in each round of matches played so far.
They have made one change to the side that beat Cambridgeshire in a high-scoring affair at Peterborough on Monday with Tom Slane, an opening bowler from Felling, set for his county debut.
Bedfordshire also need to win to stay in contention for a quarter-final place as Cumbria and Cambridgeshire face each other in the other Group One match at Kendal.
Cumbria have recalled Louis Backhouse, who plays his club cricket at Kendal, and experienced batter Sam Dutton.
Cambridgeshire have included newcomer Nicky Kirkwood, a batter from Nottinghamshire club Wollaton, in their squad along opening bowler Callum McLean whose only previous county appearance came in a Trophy match against Norfolk in 2021.
Callum Guest and James Cox are set for their seasonal debuts but Wayne White is unavailable.
Shifnal batter Rahul Kaushal will make his competitive debut for Shropshire against Staffordshire on his home club ground in Group Two.
Kaushal, who played in the friendly against Worcestershire Academy last month, replaces Jack Home in the only change to the side that beat Norfolk on Sunday.
Staffordshire need to win, having been beaten by Suffolk on Monday, to revive their quarter-final hopes.
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Suffolk, who have also won two from two, host Herefordshire at Sudbury and have named an unchanged side from the one that beat Staffordshire.
Herefordshire, who resuscitated their interest in the quarter-finals by beating Norfolk on Monday, travel without Ben Chapman-Lilley, Ollie Cox and Taylor Cornall.
But all-rounder Roshan Venkataraman has recovered from a rib injury and will make his first appearance of the season with Sinel Gunurathne and Callum Bennett recalled having played in the defeat by Shropshire two weeks ago.
Groups Three and Four more are more congested with all five counties in each still in with some sort of mathematical chance of making the quarter-finals.
Cornwall will need to beat Devon – and by a sizeable margin – at Redruth in their final Group Three match if they are to progress.
Cornwall are awaiting on the availability of Somerset all-rounder Lewis Goldsworthy and former Warwickshire, Derbyshire and Glamorgan all-rounder Graham Wagg.
Devon are without England Under-19s seamer Joe Heywood because of his Somerset commitments.
Torquay & Kingskerswell spinner Harry Passenger, the son of former Devon player Ben, and Sandford seamer Matt Jeacock are newcomers to the squad.
Berkshire, who began their campaign with emphatic victories over Oxfordshire and Cornwall last weekend, face Buckinghamshire at the Falkland club in Newbury.
Charlie Dunnett, who played against Oxfordshire, is added to the side that beat Cornwall with highly-regarded seamer Ben Salter a possible debutant.
Buckinghamshire have Northamptonshire batter Aadi Sharma, one of their bright homegrown prospects, available.
Group Four leaders Dorset face Wiltshire at Wimborne with Wiltshire set to give a senior debut to seamer Rhys Baker, a product of their pathway system who is now on Gloucestershire’s academy.
Wiltshire can again include Warwickshire all-rounder Jake Lintott, who took wickets and scored runs in the defeat by Cheshire
Cheshire will enhance their quarter-final prosects but end Wales NC’s if they can win at Toft.
Cheshire bounced back from a heavy defeat against Hertfordshire two weeks ago to defeat Wiltshire last Sunday. They also have home advantage against Dorset at Didsbury next week.
Former Leicestershire and Northamptonshire left-arm seamer Michael Finan, who is trialling with Yorkshire, is unavailable so Cheshire have recalled Will Valentine and recalled Chester Boughton Hall’s Jack Wiliams for his first county appearance in two years.
National Counties Trophy
Sunday May 11 (11am)
Group One
Kendal: Cumbria v Cambridgeshire. Jesmond: Northumberland v Bedfordshire.
Group Two
Shifnal: Shropshire v Staffordshire. Sudbury: Suffolk v Herefordshire.
Group Three
Falkland CC: Berkshire v Buckinghamshire. Redruth: Cornwall v Devon.
Group Four
Toft: Cheshire v Wales NC. Wimborne: Dorset v Wiltshire.
With thanks to Paul Bolton @ NCCA
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