CRICKET: Chance for Northern Counties to get monkey off back in final against Forres in Nairn

Winning the North of Scotland T20 Cup would be a boost at just the right time of the season for Northern Counties, says club captain Will Ford.

The Meeting Park outfit will travel to Nairn to take on Forres with the trophy on the line on Saturday afternoon in a rematch of the 2022 final.

Then, Forres ran out winners by 13 runs, but it is a chance for a little bit of payback for the Inverness club this weekend.

Sitting at the top of the league table and already having reached the final of the Senior Cup, it would be a step too far to say tomorrow’s match is a season-defining one for Northern Counties.

However, Ford believes it could provide a valuable – and tangible – reward for the club ahead of more important matches over the rest of 2023.

“It’s a long season, so getting a cup now would re-invigorate everyone I think,” wicket keeper Ford explained.

“I don’t want to rely on winning a cup to boost us for the rest of the season though. We didn’t win it last year, and we still won the league.

“It’s just about the lads going out and doing it, and we haven’t had training for the last few weeks so they should be fresh.

“I think it is important to win the cup if only to get the monkey off our back of losing two cup finals last year, which put a bit of a dampener on winning the league title.

“We won the league via text message because of what happened elsewhere, so it was a bit disappointing after all that effort. Getting a cup and having it in our hands this time would be highly beneficial I should think.”

Ford continued: “Forres are a really difficult team to beat.

“We’ve had one over them in the league already which went to the rain calculator, but they might be a bit of a wounded beast. People might think it should be simple enough, but it’s a whole different game when it’s T20.”

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