BERKSHIRE CCC won the National Counties Championship for the ninth time in their history by virtue of their first innings lead.
In a soggy drawn four-day final against Lincolnshire at West Bromwich Dartmouth, Berks took the title once again to continue their domination in the competition.
With more than two-thirds of the match lost to rain, the title was decided on the first innings totals with Berkshire, who passed Lincolnshire’s 176 on the third evening, eventually extending their lead to 134 before they were dismissed for 310 on the final morning.
Euan Woods made an outstanding 129 off 181 balls after occupying the crease for nearly four hours. He and Dan O’Driscoll (57) added 117 for the seventh wicket.
Earlier, young Middlesex wicketkeeper O’Driscoll had snapped up four catches behind the stumps.
Henley skipper Tom Nugent, who had taken 6-66 in the first innings, struck early in Lincolnshire’s second innings when he had Joe Kendall caught behind in the third over.
The Eastern Division champions reached 65-1 from 15 overs before another downpour during the lunch interval brought a rain-ravaged match to a watery end.
It was Berkshire’s fifth Championship title in six seasons – four of them against Lincolnshire – and their 10th National Counties silverware in the same period to go with four National Counties Trophy titles and the T20 competition in 2018.
They are the first county to win the Championship and Trophy in the same season on three occasions.
By Dave Wright
