Norfolk cricketers enjoyed a triumphant return to Wormsley as they produced two outstanding performances to be crowned National Counties T20 champions.
They beat two excellent white-ball sides in Oxfordshire and Dorset, who both had players in their sides with first-class experience – despite having to overcome the disappointment of losing skipper and influential batsman Sam Arthurton to an ankle ligament injury sustained in club cricket on Saturday.
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Victory came a year to the day that Norfolk beat Cheshire to win the National Counties 50 Overs Knockout Trophy on the same ground.
In the first semi-final of the day, Norfolk lost the toss and were asked to bat first by Oxfordshire. They got off to a blistering start with Freddie Fairey in destructive form. Demonstrating an array of powerful shots supported by Ethan Metcalf the pair put on 47 for the first wicket in four overs before Metcalf departed, caught by Ayush Patel off Prav Chahal. Fairey kept the momentum going and brought up a superb half-century from 20 balls with seven fours and two sixes on the large Wormsley boundaries. He was joined in a 33-run partnership by stand-in captain Ben Wilcox.
Norfolk then lost both Wilcox (13) and Fairey for 54 in the space of five balls. With the score on 84-3 after 7.3 overs, Norfolk had to consolidate and not lose anymore quick wickets. Alfie Cooper (22) and Charlie Hood with an industrious 30 ensured this was the case as they took the score up to 131 in the 15th over. Hood was first to go, caught by Tristan Rossouw off the bowling of Ahmed Khan, and was soon followed back to the pavilion by Cooper after he was caught by George Tait from the bowling of Worcestershire player Tom Hinley.
There were a few decent strokes by the lower middle order in the last five overs which saw Norfolk end their 20 overs on 167-7.
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Norfolk got off to the perfect start, with Joe Everett bowling opener Arthur Hanson with the fifth delivery of the second over. The score had progressed to 31 in four overs when the dangerous-looking Patel fell to a brilliant diving catch by Ethan Metcalf from his brother Callum’s bowling for 23. The key for Norfolk was to keep taking wickets on a regular basis to peg back the strong Oxfordshire batting line-up. They managed to do this but at 105-6 in the 14th over the game was still in the balance.
The disciplined bowling display by Norfolk with every bowler playing their part was backed up by some excellent fielding which made sure the large crowd were kept on the edge of their seats. The game swung in Norfolk’s favour when Charlie Hood took a magnificent catch at full stretch to dismiss Luke Hayes off the bowling of Callum Metcalf before Ben Wilcox took a catch to give Joe Everett his third victim and remove Hinley, who was Oxfordshire last real hope.
The innings ended with Oxfordshire 157-8 to give Norfolk a 10-run victory.
In the second semi-final Dorset comfortably beat Northumberland by 40 runs to set up a showdown with Norfolk.
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Norfolk elected to bat first. Fairey went in the second and when Cooper was the third wicket to fall at the end of the eighth over the score was 58. Slow bowler Mo Abbass was proving a handful, but Ben Wilcox was playing well. He featured in a partnership of 61 with Hood (15) during which he brought up his half-century and in a real captain’s innings was leading from the front. Hood was caught by Connor Smith off Finn Gordon and then four balls later Ben Wilcox fell to a catch by Alex Eckland from the bowling of Abbas for a brilliant 73 which included five fours and a six from 49 balls.
At 121-5 with just over three overs remaining Norfolk needed some impetus and Hami Qadri stepped up to the plate with two fours and six in 23 not out from 11 balls as Norfolk finished on 152-6.
Dorset set off like a house on fire taking 12 runs from Arthur Wilcox’s opening over and 14 from Everett’s first. But the introduction of Andy Hanby stemmed the flow as he bowled two tight overs costing just four runs.
It was the seamers Brett Stolworthy and Callum Metcalf who really started to turn the screw, bowling in tandem. The exceptional fielding by Norfolk was keeping Dorset in check and soon it was 80-5 with Ben Wilcox claiming a stunning diving catch to get rid of Alex Eckland.
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When Stolworthy took his third wicket, bowling Wilf La Fontaine Jackson to make it 85-6 the pendulum was starting to swing Norfolk’s way but there was still a bit to do. Dorset gained some momentum and entered the last three overs needing 45 for victory. An expensive over brought this down to 30 off the last two but Norfolk held their nerve and secured a famous 12-run victory to spark wild celebrations from the large contingent of Norfolk supporters.
Stolworthy with 3-14 and Callum Metcalf with 2-16 bowled superb but it was Ben Wilcox who received the man of the match award for his match winning knock and astute captaincy.
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