U14 County Cup Final
Omaris Khan (86 not out) and Hamza Khan (72) shone with the bat as Warwickshire eased to a 6 wicket win against Essex. Choosing to bat first, Essex started well with openers Aayush Baluja and Shahariyar Chaudhry putting on 52 before Baluja was bowled by Charlie Taylor. Essex lost regular wickets, Jack Pidgeon taking 3-37, to find themselves at 139-8 when Xander Sliverwood and Aditya Singh added 60 for the ninth wicket before losing their final two wickets to be dismissed for 202. Hamza Khan and Omaris Khan’s third wicket partnership of 136 took the game away from Essex and despite Hamza being caught off the bowling of Singh (who took 2-56), Omaris remained unbeaten as his Warwickshire side won with more than 7 overs remaining.
U16 County Cup Final
In a repeat of the 2022 final, the last County Age Group match of the season saw Middlesex retain the Under 16 County Cup crown. Middlesex batted first and opener James Isbell scored a fantastic 115 and added 120 for the fourth wicket with Caleb Falconer (83) to put them in a strong position. Yorkshire pegged Middlesex back with some excellent late bowling and Alexander Wade shone with the ball taking 5-45 as Middlesex were bowled out in the final over for 273. Captain Will Bennison top scored for Yorkshire in their reply with 57 and Owen Smith hit 44 (with the pair scoring 78 for the second wicket) but Middlesex kept taking wickets throughout. Sebastain Morgan (4-34) and Samarjeet Singh (3-57) did the damage as Middlesex beat the rain and darkening skies to secure victory by 27 runs.
U18 County Cup & Plate Final
Warwickshire won their second County Cup Final of the season as their Under 18’s followed the Under 14 side to beat Somerset by 48 runs. A quick start from Oliver Dandy and Kai Smith (putting on 52 in just over 6 overs) was then followed by a key innings by George Maddy (77) supported by Amir Khan (46). Despite James Theedom taking 5-46, Warwickshire continued to score well before being dismissed for 262 in the penultimate over. Jay Terry was the standout Somerset batter scoring 75 but despite contributions from captain Thomas Rew (30) and Aman Rao (27), they lost regular wickets throughout which prevented any key partnerships being formed. Wickets were shared amongst the Warwickshire bowlers with Mohammed Umar Shaikh, Edward Batchelor, Levi Gekis and Sam Atkinson all taking two as Somerset were all out for 214.
In the Plate Final, the competition for Counties that lost in the first two rounds of the Cup, Surrey controlled their match throughout. Worcestershire were thankful to Louis Hursthouse for his 57 not out to help them to a total of 207 with Tommy Bates (3-27) and Seb Stuart-Reckling (2-44) doing the damage for Surrey. Despite losing two early wickets, Amogh Karpe (80 not out) and Stuart Van Der Merwe (79 not out) scored an unbeaten partnership of 158 to steer Surrey home by 8 wickets.
Girls U18 County Cup Finals
The Girls Under 18 County Cup Finals are played over two days, with semi finals on day one and the final on the second day. In the final Staffordshire, who had a 5-wicket win against Essex in their semi final, elected to bat first against Devon, who themselves had eased to a 9-wicket semi final win against Nottinghamshire. Staffordshire scored an impressive 200-5 with a second wicket partnership of 78 between Lexie Cantrill (54) and Davina Perrin (32) laying a solid foundation for captain Ebony Tweats to then come in and score 41 not out. In reply Devon started well with Emma Corney leading the way with 24. However, Devon’s bid to retain the title was derailed by an excellent spell of bowling by Amelia Lee who took 5-12 which included 4 stumpings from wicket keeper Ruby Millington. As a result, Essex were all out for 113 leaving Staffordshire as the winners and national champions.
Vitality U18 County T20 Finals
Surrey claimed their second trophy in two weeks as they took home the Vitality Under 18 County T20 First Class County title with a comfortable victory against Yorkshire. Yorkshire themselves had earlier in the day beaten Northamptonshire in a high scoring Semi Final for the right to play against Surrey in the final, but after electing to bat first, Yorkshire came up against an impressive bowling performance. Alex French (2-9 from 4 overs) and Luke Griffiths (2-13 from 4 overs) had the best figures with only Jawad Akhtar (38 not out) putting up much resistance as Yorkshire reached 100 from their 20 overs. Harvey Round (2-24) removed both Surrey openers but Arjun Gill (35 from 23 balls) and Adam Thomas (41 not out from 23 balls) saw Surrey home by 6 wickets as their chased down their target in just 10.3 overs.
The National Counties Final was a much closer encounter and a thrilling finish with Berkshire, fresh from an easy Semi Final win against Staffordshire by 6 wickets in the morning, taking on Devon. Batting first Berkshire scored 141-9 with ‘keeper Andrew MacEwan (35 from 27 balls) top scoring with Murad Khan and Jayden Barson both getting 21. George Tapley was the standout bowler for Devon taking 4-27. Devon’s reply started off rapidly with opener Seb Linnitt hitting regular boundaries and despite wickets falling around him, Devon were 96-3 at the halfway point of their reply. They had reached 118-3 before Linnitt was run out for 79 from just 48 balls and that was the trigger for a dramatic Devon collapse. Connor Lamsdale was key as he took 3-14 including the final wicket in the last over to see Berkshire crowned champions by just 4 runs.
Vitality Girls Under 18 County T20 Finals
Four teams were at Loughborough University for the Finals which were rain affected. The morning semi finals had Hampshire beating Worcestershire by 6 wickets while Essex beat North East Warriors by 9 wickets. Rain then impacted the afternoon matches, North East Warriors winning the third place playoff by 27 runs in a 9 overs a side match with Hampshire taking on Essex in the final which was 10 overs per side. Essex won the toss and put Hampshire into bat, they made a total of 67-5 with Sally Chapman being the pick of the bowlers with 2-8. Essex were never in trouble in their reply with contributions from Hollie Dring-Richardson (16), Jessica Olorenshaw (19 not out) and captain Bella Johnson (22 not out) ensuring victory.
50+ County Championship Final
Yorkshire enjoyed their first win in the competition since 2018 as they overwhelmed final debutants Bedfordshire in a one-sided, rain effected final. After winning the toss, Yorkshire batted first with openers Nick Gaywood (74) and captain Steve Foster (31) setting the tone with a partnership of 92. The dismissal of Foster saw Baber Butt (41) join Gaywood and despite rain interrupting their innings and both being dismissed, Iqbal Khan (43 not out) and Bandula Ranjith (23 not out) took Yorkshire to an imposing 222-3. More rain saw Bedfordshire’s target reduced to 209 from 32 overs but they never challenged this with only openers Ian Horton and Steve Litchfield reaching double figures. Muhammad Shahnawaz took 4-21 with Haider Jahangir (2-7) supporting as Bedfordshire were bowled out for 62 to see the White Rose taking home the title.