Northern Counties Cricket Club set up rematch of 2022 north of Scotland T20 Cup final after progressing past Fort Augustus and Ross County at Castle Leod
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Northern Counties put on a formidable show of batting strength to seal their place in north cricket’s Senior T20 Cup final.
Going up against Fort Augustus and host club Ross County in the round robin group stage, Counties got off to a good start in the opening match against the latter.
Geoff Parker led the way, hitting 76 not out as Counties set a target of 180 for Ross County to win.
In the second innings, wickets at good times from Nuwan Eshwara (3-15) and Shaun Thomas (4-20) helped keep the momentum with the Meeting Park outfit, eventually bowling Ross County out for 97.
An entertaining match between Ross County and Fort Augustus then followed, with County winning by 34 runs – meaning that if Northern Counties defeated Fort Augustus in the final match of the day, they would go through to the final.
There Counties really took off. Opening batters David Dugdale (73) and Alex Green put on a first wicket partnership of 182, scoring at more than two runs per ball.
Green in particular would nearly carry his bat, hitting a phenomenal 146 runs on his own off just 68 deliveries.
That was always going to be a huge mountain for Fort Augustus to climb, so they elected to give youngsters valuable batting experience instead.
The scoreline ended up being one-sided as a result, but Ronan Blakey did score 35 runs as the Fort batted out their overs in a valiant, but ultimately unsuccessful effort.
“Alex is a class act, and sometimes all he needs to do is get out of his head,” Counties skipper Will Ford said afterwards.
“Duggers is the same, he has been brilliant this season.
“We haven’t seen anything like that batting display from either of them for seasons.
“In our first game against Ross County, we haven’t caught and fielded like that all season either.
“That just shows that the fielding practice and running between the wickets that we do in training is paying off, and that people are buying into it.”
Counties now move on to a rematch of 2022’s final against Forres, who overcame Elgin and Highland in their round robin.
