Devon retained their Western Division One title in the NCCA Cluberly Championship and secured a place in next month’s final by beating Wiltshire by 194 runs in two days at the South Wilts club in Salisbury.

Although Devon were bundled out 189 in their second innings – nine batters made double figures but none reached 30 – they had taken such a firm grip on the match on the first day that the outcome was never in doubt.

Wiltshire were left to chase 408 on a turning pitch but got just over halfway and were bowled out for 213 to conclude an inconsistent campaign which saw them win both of their away matches, against Herefordshire and Berkshire, but lose both of their home games by wide margins in two days.

Seamer George Daldorph continued the impressive start to his National Counties career by taking four for 27 with spinners Callum Harvey and Sam Read combining to share the other six wickets.

There was resistance from Jake Lintott (62) and Jake Goodwin (45) but not sufficient to stretch the match into a final day.

Devon’s win meant that Wiltshire off-spinner Joe King’s six for 94 in the second innings and three more for Lintott were relegated to footnotes.

Devon will now meet either Buckinghamshire or Suffolk in the four-day final at West Bromwich Dartmouth starting on September 6, with the Eastern Division One title still to be decided.

Buckinghamshire, the defending divisional and national champions, will need 17 more runs to beat Cambridgeshire on the final day at Peterborough with nine wickets intact after they bundled out their hosts for 66 in their second innings.

Victory would take Buckinghamshire top but Suffolk will overtake them if they can beat Staffordshire at Stafford.

Cambridgeshire’s relegation was confirmed once Staffordshire earned their first batting bonus point and they were then shot out for the lowest total in the Championship this season in their second innings at Peterborough by Buckinghamshire spinners Matt Pardoe and Conner Haddow.

Slow left-armer Pardoe returned figures of 8-4-7-5 with Haddow proving equally miserly with three for 15 in 13 overs.

Will Routledge’s battling 31 accounted for almost half of Cambridgeshire’s runs with their collapse leaving Buckinghamshire to chase 50 for victory. They could not quite complete the job in two days and lost opener Archie Dodds to the 12th ball of the innings but only rain – which is not forecast – will prevent them completing the formalities on Tuesday morning.

A Buckinghamshire win would leave Dan Shanks, who is captaining Suffolk in a Championship match for the first time, with a potentially difficult decision on when to declare at Stafford.

The pitch still seems to be full of runs and Shanks will know that, as Staffordshire can no longer finish top themselves, they could opt to try to bat out time for a draw if they decide a victory target is too steep.

A third wicket partnership of 242 between Dan Lincoln, whose 165 was his first century since he joined Staffordshire from Berkshire, and Matt Morris 9125) restricted Suffolk’s first innings lead to 45.

Suffolk extended that to 255 by the close with openers Alex Maynard (73) and Nico Boje (50) rattling up their second rapid century partnership of the match, this one in 18 overs.

Darren Ironside maintained the tempo after Maynard and Boje departed but Suffolk’s stand-in captain Dan Shanks faces a tricky decision on when to declare on the final day with a flat pitch seemingly still full of runs.

The other outstanding issue to be resolved is who will replace Cambridgeshire in the top-flight next season with Lincolnshire going into the final day against Cumbria at Cleethorpes requiring three more bonus points to win Eastern Division Two.

After Sunday’s washout Lincolnshire ended Cumbria’s hopes of overtaking them by dismissing them for 154 with Matt Mills (five for 42) and Tom Shephard (five for 44) the wreckers.

With a full hand of bowling points Lincolnshire needed three batting points to go past Norfolk, who completed their Championship programme last week, and return to the top flight after being relegated 12 months ago.

They ended the day on 155 for two, 20 away from their first batting point, with Sam Jarvis unbeaten on 75.

The other Eastern Division Two match between Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire at Flitwick became, in effect, a one innings contest after Hertfordshire had a one run lead on first innings.

They got that thanks to half-centuries from Ben Clifford (80) and Sam Davis (53) with former Essex seamer Jamal Richards the pick of Bedfordshire’s attack with four wickets.

Bedfordshire ended the day on 110 for four with captain George Thurstance dismissed for a king pair.

Berkshire were briefly top of Western Division One after they wrapped up an eight wickets victory over Herefordshire at Eastnor shortly after tea on the second day. But they stayed there only for a couple of hours before Devon’s win shunted them back into second place.

Young opener Henry Hardinges (64) again displayed promise and captain Luke Tulacz (65) made his second half-century of the match as Herefordshire batted with more resolve than they had on the first day.

But Berkshire captain Andy Rishton led from the front with five wickets to dismiss Herefordshire for 234 which left Berkshire with a 46 needed for a comfortable win.

Herefordshire’s defeat was their fourth in a row in the Championship and their 14th in 16 matches in all competitions with their two victories coming against Hertfordshire in the NV Play National Counties Trophy and Wiltshire in the T20 competition.

Cheshire’s Lancashire contracted batter Kesh Fonseka made a maiden century to help them reply to Wales NC’s mountainous first innings 487 for two with 381 for nine at Alderley Edge in Western Division Two. Fonseka eventually departed for 164 having shared a third wicket partnership of 107 with Sam Perry (63).

Wales extended their lead to 266 by the close with seven wickets intact including Brad Wadlan who ended the day unbeaten on 39 in his final innings before he retires from playing.

Western Division Two champions Cornwall will go into the final day against Dorset at Wimborne with a lead of 231, five wickets intact and an intriguing finish in prospect.

Seamer Will MacVicar and spinners Elliot Hooper and Ellis Whiteford each too three wickets to dismiss Dorset for 247 with Ralph Dunne (46) and Will Chesterman (44) helping to restrict Cornwall’s first innings lead to 47.

Opener Karl Leathley made 48 at the start of Cornwall’s second innings before slow left-armer Mo Abbas took three wickets. MacVicar ended another industrious day unbeaten on 36 and Cornwall on 184 for five.

NCCA Cluberly Championship

Day Two

Eastern Division One

Peterborough: Cambridgeshire 291 (Tom Cullen 86, Will Routledge 76, Conner Haddow 4-90) & 66 (Matt Pardoe 5-7), Buckinghamshire 308 (Matt Pardoe 72, Daksh Sabherwal 62, Archie Dodds 55, Aum Patel 4-62) & 33-1.  

Stafford: Suffolk 398 (Nico Boje 91, Josh Cantrell 88, Alex Maynard 79, Sam Keeling-Wright 5-117) & 210-3 (Alex Maynard 72, Darren Ironside 51 not out, Nico Boje 50), Staffordshire 353-9 dec (Dan Lincoln 165, Matt Morris 125, Josh Cantrell 4-40).

Western Division One

Eastnor: Herefordshire 138 (Luke Tulacz 60 not out) & 234 (Luke Tulacz 65, Henry Hardinges 64, Andy Rishton 5-60), Berkshire 327 (James Isbell 151, Charlie Dunnett 52, Roshan Venkataraman 4-84) & 49-2. Berkshire (24pts) beat Herefordshire (4pts) by eight wickets.

South Wilts CC: Devon 310 (Ben Privett 95, Elliot Hamilton 66, Sam Elstone 63, Jake Lintott 5-89) & 189 (Joe King 6-94), Wiltshire 92 (Will Naish 45) & 213 (Jake Lintott 62, George Daldorph 4-27). Devon (23pts) beat Wiltshire (4pts) by 194 runs.

Eastern Division Two

Flitwick: Bedfordshire 284 (Zaid Faleel 63, Joe Lowe 58 not out, Danyaal Khalid 53, Ben Waring 4-49, Jake Wickham 4-87) & 110-4, Hertfordshire 285 (Ben Clifford 80, Sam Davis 53, Jamal Richards 4-83).

Cleethorpes: Cumbria 154 (Matt Mills 5-42, Tom Shephard 5-44), Lincolnshire 155-2 (Sam Jarvis 75 not out).

Western Division Two

Alderley Edge: Wales NC 487-2 (Mat Ryan 241, Tegid Phillips 155 not out) &, Cheshire 381-9 (Kesh Fonseka 164, Sam Perry 63, Rhodri Lewis 4-96).

Wimborne: Cornwall 294 (Alfie MacDonald 74, Elliot Hooper 65, Billy Taylor 62) & 184-5 (Karl Leathley 48), Dorset 247 (Dylan Church 60, Ralph Dunne 46, Will Chesterman 44).