COUNTIES CRICKET Wimborne to host Dorset quarter-final
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- Last Updated on Saturday, 24 May 2025 07:57
- Published on Friday, 23 May 2025 12:00
Dorset CCC topped Group Four despite losing their final match against Cheshire at Didsbury on Sunday.
They now host Buckinghamshire at Wimborne where they have already beaten Hertfordshire and Wiltshire this season.
Buckinghamshire beat Oxfordshire in their final Group Three match on Sunday and secured their place in the last eight only after Berkshire edged out Devon by two wickets at Blundell’s School.
Dorset were beaten by Berkshire in last season’s quarter-finals at Slough while Buckinghamshire have to go back to 2009 for their last appearance in this stage of the competition. Then they were beaten by three wickets by Bedfordshire at Dunstable.
All eight of this season’s quarter-finalists are previous winners of the Trophy. Berkshire have won it a record eight times, Cheshire four times – most recently in 2018 – Cambridgeshire twice (1995 and 2003) the others once each.
Shropshire’s win came in 2010 with Suffolk’s in 2007, Northumberland’s in 2006 and Buckinghamshire and Dorset’s coming in the last century, 1990 and 1988 respectively.
Cambridgeshire have selected Exning as the venue for their tie against Suffolk even though the ground is situated just over the county border in Suffolk.
The picturesque ground was used by Suffolk as a home venue for five Trophy matches between 1998 and 2002 but has been a regular Cambridgeshire ground since 2019.
Cambridgeshire booked their quarter-final place by beating Bedfordshire in a Group One shoot-out at Sawston on Sunday while Suffolk qualified as runners-up in Group Two despite losing their final group match against Shropshire.
It will be the third successive season that Cambridgeshire and Suffolk have met at Exning Park with Suffolk winning a group match there in 2023 and Cambridgeshire gaining revenge in last year’s quarter-final.
Shropshire make a swift return to Shifnal for their quarter-final against Northumberland who were runners-up in Group One.
Shropshire beat Staffordshire by six wickets at the Priorslee Road ground earlier this month when their quartet of spinners proved highly effective.
Shropshire will be making their first appearance in the quarter-finals since 2018 when they beat Norfolk but then went out Cheshire in the semi-final at Bridgnorth. Northumberland reached the knockout stages two years ago when they were beaten by Suffolk.
Berkshire, who won the Trophy four seasons running until Norfolk took their crown last year, will face Cheshire at the Falkland club in Newbury in a re-match of last season’s semi-final at Alderley Edge. Cheshire won that match by 133 runs before going down to Norfolk in the final at Wormsley.
The counties have taken different routes to this season’s quarter-finals with Berkshire winning four out of four in Group Three while Cheshire bounced back from being shot out for just 68 – their lowest-ever Trophy total – by Hertfordshire in their opener to win their next three and deny Wiltshire a place in the last eight.
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