Berkshire are through to the quarter-finals of the National Counties Trophy and will face Dorset at Wimborne this coming Sunday.
They kept alive their dream of winning the 50/50 competition for a fourth successive time when everything went in their favour last Sunday.
At the start of play, they had to beat Bedfordshire at Southhill Park CC, while hoping Group 2 winners Hertfordshire would do them a favour by defeating Cornwall. In addition, Berkshire also needed a significant swing in net run rate to deny Cornwall second place – and all three things occurred.
Dan Lincoln’s men saw off Bedfordshire without too many problems, winning by five wickets. They dismissed the home side for 131, sending them tumbling from 79-2. Andy Rishton took three wickets for 29, while the rest were shared by Tom Nugent (2-25). Rhodri Lewis (2-30), Luke Beaven
(2-39) and Euan Woods (1-1).
Berkshire needed just 23 overs to reach their target with Woods making 35, Savin Perera 31 – the pair added 70 for the second wicket – and skipper Lincoln 28 not out. In the process, they upped their net run rate, which was -0.02 at the start of play, to +0.78 while Cornwall dropped from 0.55 to
0.44.
Berkshire’s side contained none of their batsmen attached to first-class counties and coach Tom Lambert will be hoping one or two will be available for next Sunday.
Dorset, who won Group 4 without losing a game, defeated title rivals Wiltshire by six wickets with a side containing Sussex left-arm seamer Brad Currie, and Hampshire duo Ross Whiteley and Joe Eckland.
The other Trophy quarter-finals are Hertfordshire v Wiltshire, Suffolk v Northumberland and Cumbria v Cheshire. The semi-finals are on July 16 with the final at Wormsley on August 27.
By Dave Wright
