Bedfordshire County Cricket Club are through to the knockouts of the National Counties T20 despite two losses out of two against group three winners, Berkshire in the final round of group fixtures on Sunday (5 July).
They go on to face Shropshire in the next round, with the victors from that eliminator going on to face the winners of Group 2, Norfolk.
The knockout double header has been confirmed to be taking place at Sprowston Cricket Club in Norfolk on Sunday, 9 August.
Bedfordshire finished third in the group on eight points, enough to qualify for the Super 12 stage of an extended T20 competition, behind Berkshire and Buckinghamshire who both claimed 12 points from the pool stage.
As it transpired, Bedfordshire would have had to win twice convincingly to finish better than third as one-day finalists, Berkshire took advantage of a pair of poor batting displays by the hosts.
Skittled
In the first game at Wardown Park in Luton, Berkshire batted first and amassed 164/9, with Ben Salter hitting the only half century of the day as he crashed 80 off 51 balls before becoming one of three wickets for Archie Houghton (3-31).
Nabil Moughal (4-27) dismissed the majority of the middle order, but Bedfordshire’s batting woes hit hard in the chase as no batter scored higher than 18, with Bedfordshire skittled for just 95, losing by 69 runs.
The second game wasn’t much better, as Bedfordshire could only post a target of 116/8, with Northamptonshire all-rounder, Gus Miller and Houghton top-scoring with 31.
Moughal was again in the wickets with 2-16 in the second innings, and despite Berkshire losing six wickets in all, they were able to creep over the line with four balls remaining.
It leaves Bedfordshire with a T20 record of four wins and four defeats, comfortably ahead of Oxfordshire and Wales who are both knocked out in Group Three.
The programme ahead
As Bedfordshire await their T20 fate, focus now turns to the three-day red ball NCCA Championship.
Competing in Division Two East, Bedfordshire will be hoping to bounce back up to Division One after four fixtures against Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Cumbria and Hertfordshire.
Their red ball campaign begins at Sprowston Cricket Club with Bedfordshire facing Norfolk from Sunday, 26 July before Dunstable Town Cricket Club host Lincolnshire the following week.
A trek to Netherfield in Cumbria after the T20 eliminators follows on Sunday, 16 August before Flitwick play host in the final pool game the following Sunday, with Hertfordshire the visitors.
Bedfordshire will hope of a repeat of the 2023 season, in which they thrashed Hertfordshire by 411 runs at the same venue in the final game of the season to secure promotion to Division One.
For now, Bedfordshire’s players will go back to their home clubs as the local cricket leagues begin bubbling up to an exciting conclusion.
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This article was updated at 10:05 on Thursday, 9 July with details of the draw for the next round.
