NCCA T20 2025 - Week 1 Preview

Derbyshire batter Aneurin Donald will make his first appearance for Wales NC in 11 years when they begin their National Counties T20 campaign with a double-header against Bedfordshire at Southill Park on Sunday.

Donald was with Glamorgan when he last played for Wales and his first-class career has since taken him to Hampshire and, since 2023, Derbyshire.

He has yet to feature for Derbyshire this season having suffered a shoulder injury fielding as a substitute in their County Championship opener against Gloucestershire in early April.

Donald has now regained fitness and has made himself available to Wales as he attempts to find form ahead of the start of Derbyshire’s Vitality Blast season next week.

Wales have also included two debutants, Hugo Caldicott and Luke Humphries, in their squad along with two Glamorgan staff men, Ben Morris and Henry Hurle.

Bedfordshire have batter Amrit Basra in their side for the first time this season but experienced all-rounder Matt Coles misses out through injury.

Seamer Muhammad Salahuddin and spinner Joe Johnson are in line to make their Bedfordshire debuts.

Bedfordshire will also be accepting donations of essential foodstuffs at Sunday’s match in support of their designated charity, IMPAKT Housing.

IMPAKT helps homeless people in Bedfordshire and the county club will welcome donations of items including tinned food, rice, pasta, biscuits, sauces, tea and coffee at Southill Park.

Oxfordshire have included Sussex batter Archie Lenham in their side for the double-header against Berkshire at Challow & Childrey.

Oxfordshire have a formal partnership with Sussex which has seen local youngsters James Coles, Zach Lion-Cachet and Harrison Ward all graduate to the first-class ranks with the south coast county.

Lenham will make his Oxfordshire debut in a side captained by Ward with Lion-Cachet making his first appearance of the season and a fourth Sussex staff man, batter Henry Rogers, also in the squad.

Oxford UCCE spinner Ahmed Khan is in line to make his debut for Oxfordshire who face Surrey in a T20 Showcase Match at Thame on Monday.

Berkshire have called up batter Andrew MacEwan for a potential debut with Matt Dalrymple also included in the squad for his first appearance of the season.

All-rounder Josh Lincoln will be added to the squad for Tuesday’s Showcase Match against Sussex under the floodlights at Hove where Ward, Lenham, Rogers and Lion-Cachet are again likely to be opponents.

Staffordshire, who won the competition the last time it was completed two years ago – last year’s Finals Day was washed out three times – begin their campaign with ab trip to Allendale to face Northumberland in Group One.

Northumberland will be captained by former Durham batter Harry Crawshaw with Robbie Bowman and Mohsin Mukhtar called up for their seasonal debuts.

Staffordshire are without batter Michael Hill, who has opted to sit out the T20 competition this season, and slow left-armer Tom Brett is unavailable for the trip to Allendale.

Stone SP seamer Ed Batchelor comes into the squad as a possible debutant with Audley’s Jack Redman and Hem Heath’s Callum Leese also called up.

Shropshire and Cheshire, two of the form sides in the 50 overs National Counties Trophy, meet in a cross-border double-header at Wem.

Shropshire are missing Jacques Banton, Andre Bradford, Ben Roberts and Joe Stanley, who are all unavailable.

Wem opener Harry Chandler, Shrewsbury batter Seb Scott and Newtown all-rounder David Laird are recalled and seamers Ravan Chahal (Worfield) and Will Jenkins (Shrewsbury) are potential debutants.

Cheshire have also made changes to the side that beat Dorset in their final Trophy group match last weekend.

Chester Boughton Hall batter Ollie Law features in a county squad for the first time since 2019 having returned to cricket this season following a break for county commitments.

Law made a century against Oxfordshire in the 2015 T20 final to help Cheshire win the inaugural competition.

Rohan Luthra, Andy Jackson and Andy Dufty all make their seasonal debuts but paceman Michael Finan is unavailable.

Devon make an earlier than expected return to Blundell’s School in Tiverton for their double-header againstCornwall.

The match was scheduled to be played at Exeter but has been moved to Blundell’s to avoid a clash with the Great West Run which is expected to cause major traffic congestion.

Devon were edged out by Berkshire by two wickets at Blundell’s in a Trophy match last Sunday but this week’s squad is much-changed.

Lawrence Walker takes over as T20 captain from James Horler, who leads Devon in the other formats, and Zach Vukusic, a Croatian T20 international, is a likely debutant.

Plymouth’s 16-year-old all-rounder Matt Whalley is another newcomer with Josh Nott, Callum Harvey and Jon Triner included in a T20 squad for the first time.

Cornwall have included former Kent all-rounder Alex Blake for the first time this season. He replaces Graham Wagg who played in the Trophy defeat by Devon at Redruth two weeks ago.

Herefordshire give a debut to Halesowen batter/off-spinner Hasan Mahmood against Wiltshire at Eastnor.

Slow left-armer Ben Clarke makes his first competitive appearance of the season having played against MCC last weekend and pace bowler Sam Keeling-Wright, who has been trialling with Northamptonshire, returns from injury.

Wiltshire are without Warwickshire’s Jake Lintott for the first time this season with Alfie Johnson and Jonathan Sadler called up.

Wiltshire also face a T20 Showcase Match against Glamorgan at Swindon’s County Ground in the second match of a double-header with the women’s sides of the respective counties playing earlier in the day.

Batter Nikhil Gorantla will reappear for Cambridgeshire against Hertfordshire at Exning.

Gorantla has spent the past two seasons with Northumberland and memorably scored a century which helped them defeat Durham in a Showcase Match two years ago.

But Gorantla was born and raised in Cambridge and having rejoined his native county he comes into Sunday’s squad.

Burwell & Exning’s Nic Huckle is a possible debutant for Cambridgeshire on his home ground in the absence of James Cox.

Lincolnshire host Norfolk in the other Group Two double-header at a new venue, London Road in Louth.

Lincolnshire two more products of their pathway system, Collingham & District batter Ben Jones and Sleaford seamer Scott Tite.

Joe Pocklington returns to National Counties cricket having made a T20 half-century for Yorkshire Second XI against Leicestershire during the week.

Alfie Cooper, Freddie Fairey and Hamidullah Qadri, the former Derbyshire and Kent off-spinner, return for Norfolk.

National Counties T20

Sunday May 25 (11am and 2.30pm)

Group One

Allendale: Northumberland v Staffordshire. Wem: Shropshire v Cheshire.

Group Two

Exning: Cambridgeshire v Hertfordshire. Louth: Lincolnshire v Norfolk.

Group Three

Southill Park: Bedfordshire v Wales NC. Challow & Childrey: Oxfordshire v Berkshire.

Group Four

Blundell’s School: Devon v Cornwall. Eastnor: Herefordshire v Wiltshire.

Showcase Matches

Monday May 26

Thame: Oxfordshire v Surrey (2pm)

Tuesday May 27

Hove: Sussex v Berkshire (7pm)

Friday May 30

Swindon: Wiltshire v Glamorgan.