Lincolnshire hope that the return of Andy Carter to join his brother Matt can help them gain double revenge over Berkshire as the Minor Counties season reaches its climax over the next week.
Berkshire won a classic encounter between the teams in last summer’s Unicorns Championship final at Wormsley, the margin of 28 runs reflecting a hard-fought, fluctuating encounter in which the former Middlesex spinner Chris Peploe took five wickets in each innings, but the Surrey and England Under-19s batsman Euan Woods won the man of the match award for scores of 41 and 142 not out.
Now the 2016 rivals have confirmed their domination of Minor Counties cricket by qualifying for both this season’s showpiece fixtures – the four-day Championship final which starts at Banbury on Sunday, but before that they return to Wormsley for the 50-over Trophy final on Wednesday.
Berkshire are aiming for a fourth one-day title since the competition was introduced in 1983, which would take them ahead of Cheshire and leave them behind only Devon and Norfolk, who have each won it five times.
Lincolnshire have never won it, after losing three finals in 1990, 1994 and 2010. But Mark Fell, the former Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire all-rounder who is their long-serving director of cricket, is hopeful that this could finally be their year.
“I’m not a big one for looking stuff up, but I wouldn’t think this happens often, the same two teams in the Knockout and Championship finals,” he said.
“We have a lot of respect for Berkshire as a team, especially after last year’s Championship final which was a magnificent game and went right down to the wire.
“They’ve probably got stronger again and we think we definitely have.
“We’ve got two very experienced lads in our squad in Andy Carter and Matt Lineker. Apart from that we’re quite a young side because that’s the way I’ve always thought Minor Counties cricket should work, with mostly young lads benefiting from a bit of experience.
“Someone like Alex Willerton, our opening bowler, has come on a lot from bowling at the other end with Andy. Dan Freeman has also done well moving up from number four to opening the batting, and got us off to a good start with Louis Kimber.”
Carter took over 100 first-class wickets in a career starting in 2009 with Essex, which also included stints with Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and an appearance for Northants at the start of this season.
But he is a Lincolnshire lad, and came “home” to link up with his younger brother Matt – a tall off-spinner who took seven wickets on his first-class debut for Notts against Somerset in Taunton two years ago.
Lineker provides further experience, after spending a few years on the staff at Derbyshire, and he has scored three centuries for Lincs this season, while they will include another familiar name in Sam Wood, a 24-year-old who claimed Jason Roy as his maiden first-class victim for Notts having previously played for England Under-19s.
“Mick Newell and Peter Moores at Notts have been really helpful, making guys available for the big matches,” Fell added.
“So we’ve got Matt available again for the finals which is great – him and Andy Carter have really enjoyed playing together for Lincolnshire this season.”
Berkshire have been unbeaten in the Western Division for three seasons, with Peploe again leading from the front.
They also include the former Middlesex all-rounder Ollie Wilkin, the former Hampshire batsman Richard Morris – who has been in prolific form this season – and his younger brother James.
Tickets for tomorrow’s game are available on the gate at £5 (details here - http://www.wormsleyestate.com/events/).