NCCA 50-Over Trophy 2025: Semi-final - Review

Dorset and Shropshire will meet in this season’s National Counties Trophy final after each ended a lengthy wait for an appearance in the showpiece event.

Dorset reached the final for the first time in 19 years after they beat Berkshire by six wickets in their semi-final at Finchampstead where they chased down a target 268 with three balls to spare.

It was also tight at Shifnal where Shropshire beat Suffolk under the DLS Method in a rain-affected tie to secure their place in 50 overs final for the first time since 2013 when they won the competition.

Dorset and Shropshire will now meet in the final at Chester Boughton Hall on Sunday July 13.

Dorset’s successful chase was based on half-centuries from openers Dylan Church (79) and Finn Gordon (68) and Joe Eckland (89 not out), with the Hampshire-contracted youngster steering his native county home in partnership with his elder brother Alex.

Berkshire suffered their second successive semi-final defeat but only after they had put a terrific fight. At 119 for six they looked like being bundled out for a modest total but rookies Eddie Campion (52 not out) and Josh Lincoln stabilised the innings with a seventh wicket partnership of 64.

Campion and Sulaiman Akhtar followed up with a ninth wicket partnership of 68 in the last ten overs of the innings and gave Berkshire what looked like a potentially match-winning total.

But Church, a winter signing from Wiltshire, and Gordon responded with an opening partnership of 119 in 25 overs which gave Dorset a solid foundation from which to accelerate in the second half of their innings.

Joe Eckland supplied that by thumping five sixes and seven fours in an 82-ball innings and adding 94 more for the second wicket with Church.

Church’s departure triggered a mini-collapse in which Dorset lost three wickets for eight runs but the Eckland boys then combined in an unbroken fifth wicket stand of 47 which saw them home without further alarm.

At Shifnal morning rain reduced the other semi-final to a 40 overs-a-side contest and the weather closed in again to interrupt Shropshire’s pursuit of an original target of 224.

When the players returned the target was adjusted to 160 in 29 overs and they got there in a nervy finale thanks to composed innings from former Worcestershire batter Tom Fell (57) and Andre Bradford (32 not out).

The pair came together after slow left-armer Jack Beaumont had snared George Hargrave for 42, courtesy of a brilliant catch at midwicket by Josh Cantrell, and Jacques Banton, caught at slip, in successive balls.

With the forecast rain closing in Fell and Bradford ensured that Shropshire were ahead of DLS after 20 overs – the minimum number required to constitute a match – and also that they did not lose further wickets which would have adjusted the DLS target score.

Fell perished to another catch by Cantrell, this time off off-spinner Tom Harper, shortly after the interruption and Shropshire stuttered when victory was in sight with skipper Charlie Home top edging a sweep to wicketkeeper Jacob Marston and Joe Stanley bowled in the final over trying to reverse paddle Harper.

Shropshire required only two runs at the start of that over but Harper, who finished with four for 31, did not concede a run until the fourth ball when Ben Lees took a single which levelled the scores. Bradford then drove the fifth ball for another single to seal the win in their first semi-final appearance in seven years.

Suffolk’s innings was a stop-start affair with no significant partnerships but some useful innings throughout the order.

Beaumont made 30 out of an opening partnership of 32 with Ollie Burle before he edged a loose drive to Fell at slip to give Rav Chahal the first of his three wickets on his competition debut.

Adam Jones went quickly and Chahal ended Burle’s dogged 38 but former Worcestershire and Leicestershire batter George Rhodes lifted the tempo with 45 from 54 balls before he holed out off slow left-armer Banton.

Alex Oxley soon followed to leave Suffolk on 152 for six with just nine overs left of their innings but Cantrell (48 not out from 28 balls) and Marston, with a breezy 18, ensured a productive end to the innings and a competitive total.

Harper took the new ball and struck with the fifth delivery of Shropshire’s reply when Rahul Kaushal was smartly stumped by Marston off a leg-side wide.

Hargrave and Fell calmed any Shropshire nerves with a rapid second wicket partnership of 75 in ten overs before Beaumont struck twice and ensured a more cautious approach from Fell and Bradford once it became apparent that DLS was likely to be employed.

Fell struck a six and five fours in his 72-ball innings while Bradford struck two fours and faced 51 balls to nurse Shropshire through the final overs.

National Counties Trophy

Semi-finals

Finchampstead: Berkshire 267-8 (Eddie Campion 52 not out, Josh Lincoln 40, Henry Dunlop 3-51), Dorset 268-4 (Joe Eckland 89 not out, Dylan Church 79, Finn Gordon 68). Dorset won by six wickets.

Shifnal: Suffolk 223-9 (Josh Cantrell 48 not out, George Rhodes 45, Charlie Home 3-33, Rav Chahal 3-43), Shropshire 160-6 (Tom Fell 57, George Hargrave 42, Tom Harper 4-31). Shropshire won by four wickets (DLS).

📸 Lee Vaughan (X)