COUNTIES CRICKET Double T20 opening wins for Dorset
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- Created on Monday, 25 May 2026 05:48
- Last Updated on Monday, 25 May 2026 10:33
- Published on Monday, 25 May 2026 05:48
- Written by PAUL BOLTON Cricket Correspondent
Slow left-armer Mo Abbas took four for 19 in the opener before Dorset captain Will Tripcony saw his side home by nine wickets with more than 10 overs to spare with 60 not out.
Herefordshire fared better second time around and their total of 206 for seven was their highest in the competition. For an hour-and-a-half it was also the highest total of the day but it was not enough to prevent Dorset securing a five wickets win with a ball to spare.
Captain Luke Tulacz’s 73 – his maiden half-century in the competition – with excellent supporting innings from Olly Cox (48) and Roshan Venkataraman (35) took Herefordshire to an imposing total.
But Tripcony completed a productive day by making a brisk 41, Abbas sustained the chase with 53 from 36 balls and shared a third wicket partnership of 63 with Joe Eckland (58 from 39 balls). Dylan Church finished the job with 35 not out from 16 balls including the winning four from the penultimate ball of James Rudge’s final over.
There was a win apiece for Devon and Wiltshire in the Group Four double-header at Instow.
Hosts Devon held their nerve to win at low-scoring opener by two runs, successfully defending a total of 114 thanks to one of cricket’s more bizarre hat-tricks. Alfie Johnson, Sam Freestone and Archie Fairfax-Ross were run out in successive balls from Ben Privett’s chaotic final over which began with Wiltshire needing nine for victory with three wickets in hand.
Seb Linnitt, with 40 for Devon, and Tom Cheater with 35 for Wiltshire, were the only batters to reach 30.
Cheater followed up with a half-century in the second match but Wiltshire needed 42 not out from William Brown and a six from Johnson off Privett from the penultimate ball of the match to clinch a four wickets win.
Rhys Lewis became the first Berkshire bowler to take five wickets in a T20 match in the 114 runs victory over Oxfordshire in the second match at Wargrave.
Lewis helped Berkshire to 191 for eight with a half century then took five for 30 to help dismiss Oxfordshire for 77, their lowest total in the competition.
Oxfordshire won the day’s opening match by two wickets in the opener with Julian Laird taking wickets – three for 22 with his left-arm spin – and scoring important runs to help them chase down a target of 181.
Hayden Rossouw (57) and Tom Hinley (34) played the substantial innings for Oxfordshire after Berkshire captain Johnny Connell, fresh from plundering a century against Sussex in a Showcase T20 match, had struck 43 from 13 balls at the start of the day.
Bedfordshire completed a double over Wales NC at Sudbrook where a 27 runs win in the opener was followed by an 11 runs success later in the day.
Patrick Harrington’s half century took Bedfordshire to 158 for five in the opener with Rhodri Lewis – elder brother of Berkshire’s Rhys – taking a career-best four for 14 with his left-arm spin.
Cameron Hemp, back with Wales after two seasons with Buckinghamshire, launched the chase with 57 but slow left-armer Nabil Moughal took three for 25 to undermine the chase.
A half-century from Jamie Dunk took Bedfordshire to 149 for seven in the second match before Hemp launched the chase with 34 from 32 balls. But he departed in a collapse which saw the first five wickets go down for 20 in five overs with slow left-armer Max Hunt taking three for 16.
Sami Khan (43 not out) and Zac Williams shared an unbeaten seventh wicket partnership of 56 but Wales fell short.
Hertfordshire seamer Sam Davis made a spectacular return to National Counties cricket after an absence of eight years in the T20 double-header against Cambridgeshire at the West Herts club in Watford.
Davis took six for 26 in the second match of the day, Hertfordshire’s record T20 figures and the second best anywhere in the history of the competition.
Davis moved ahead of Hertfordshire captain Ben Waring, who took five for 15 against Bedfordshire – also at West Herts – two years ago with only Oxfordshire’s Ollie Currill ahead of him in the all-time list with his record of seven for 12 against Cheshire in the semi-final at Tring in 2022.
Title holders Norfolk had mixed fortunes against Lincolnshire at Sprowston in the other Group Two double-header where they lost the opener before bouncing back with an eight runs win in the second match.
They were beaten by five wickets in the opener after Amartya Kaul had taken four wickets to restrict Norfolk to 117 for nine.
Norfolk looked more like reigning champions in the second match as captain Sam Arthurton (72) and Freddie Fairey (70) shared an opening partnership of 144, a record for any Norfolk wicket in the competition.
Staffordshire and Northumberland were involved in just the second tie in the competition’s history in the second match at Stone.
COUNTIES CRICKET T20 results May 24, 2026 - South West Sports News
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