Teams target Lord's final

The final of the 50+ County Championship will take place on September 28

The teams in this season's ECB 50+ County Championship are fighting to reach a Lord's final in September.

For the first time in the competition's history, the final will be held at the Home of Cricket on the Nursery Ground - a move that has proved extremely popular with those competing.

The road to Lord's is a long one, however, with the first round of matches played on 14 May.

There are 40 competing teams – the 38 County Boards plus the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands - and qualification for players is based on the county affiliation of the parent club of the player involved.

The competition is split into five groups of eight on a geographical basis with each team playing the others in a round-robin format. Each side will play therefore seven matches, which are 45 overs-a-side.

The top three teams in each group plus the best fourth placed team, totalling 16 sides, progress to the knock-out stages. Teams from the same group cannot meet again until the semi-final stages.

Kent are the current holders having cruised to an eight-wicket win over Surrey in a game held at Horsham Cricket Club in Sussex.

Surrey batted first and racked up 250 for three, Chris Evans leading the way with a century while Tony Cummins added 51. Their total could have been much higher though but for a slow start which saw them score just 105 from 30 overs.

Kent had little trouble overhauling their target. Jim Howgego cracked an unbeaten 112 as his side cantered to victory with nearly four overs remaining.

Both sides will have ambitions of reaching Lord's this year, as will Yorkshire and Northamptonshire who were losing semi-finalists last time out.