Sussex wanted to take the title on their own terms and were hoping that victory in their match against Northamptonshire Steelbacks on the 19th of July would allow that; however after the tropical heat of the previous weekend thunderstorms put paid to any hope of cricket on that Saturday, so each side simply took 8 league points from the washout. Although that meant Sussex were 38 points clear at the top of the table, Metro were in a position to overtake if they could win both their remaining games. However Northamptonshire ended the title race with a victory over Metro inspired by Bilal Akhtar’s five for nineteen as their visitors lost their last 5 wickets for 6 runs in just eighteen balls on the 9th August! So Sussex can celebrate at their last game, on the 16th, against Somerset who are battling with Metro to avoid the drop into division 2.
Lancashire Lions will join the top flight after coming out top of division two – they completed a hard fought win against Yorkshire Vikings in the last league match, bowling the hosts out with just over 3 overs to spare. They were undefeated all season and only Kent Spitfires secured a draw against them in a completed match.
In the development leagues Berkshire Stags are the Southern Development League champions for the second successive year and with still matches to play against the bottom two sides Hampshire and Metro Devils. After Dorset County VICT could only take a winning draw against Metro Devils they are 27 points behind the leaders. Dorset will be looking to go past Surrey into second by getting eight or more points from their last match against Hampshire.
In the Midlands Development League it seems that the title may be decided on the 17th when Birmingham host Staffordshire, the gap between the teams is currently 24 points, but is likely to reduce to 16 if Birmingham’s match in Gloucestershire that was rained off cannot be rearranged and so both sides take 8 points from that fixture.
The 17th August also sees the current Northern League leaders greater Manchester Falcons playing away at third placed Lancashire Lions. With 28 points between the teams a win or winning draw for the Falcons would seem to almost assure them of the title, although the Lions do have a game in hand so the final league positions may still change on the last day of the league season the 31st, when Yorkshire host Lancashire and Durham host the Falcons. Durham who are currently second 15 points behind the leaders and Bradford who are just three behind Lancashire make this look the toughest of the Development Leagues.
Sussex are still in the hunt for a treble; they will face Metro on the DT T20 finals day at Wolverhampton Cricket Club on Saturday 20th September, after both had easy quarter final wins over Yorkshire and Dorset. Lancashire Lions will play Somerset VICC in the other semi final.
In the inaugural north and midland development T20 Birmingham Stars host Greater Manchester Falcons on Sunday 7th September in the final.
The final of that possible Sussex treble is the Primary Club Cup which has seen some fantastic performances this season.
The Sharks reached the final after coming out on top of a game on 12th July where 612 runs were scored and the winning runs came off the last ball of the 30th over. They won the toss and asked hosts Lancashire to bat; only their usually miserly opening bowlers were taken apart by former Pakistan International Shahzaib Haider. His innings of 167 off just 79 balls was a masterclass in power hitting with 20 4’s and 6 maximums, at the other end Zaheer Mahmood chipped in 23 with a strike rate of over 200 and Shah Miah blasted 59 not out off 31 balls to bring the Lions innings home on a massive 305 for 5 off of their 30 overs. Sussex couldn’t have got off to a worse start losing a wicket off the 2nd ball with no score on the board, before Mark Bond steadied the ship with a very smart 62 at a run a ball adding 225 with skipper Dan Field before Bond nicked behind to be caught at slip. Dan’s own hitting masterclass saw him blast 169 off 94 balls with 18 4’s and 4 maximums before exhaustion saw him bowled with the score on 270 with 4 overs remaining. As the final over started 8 were needed to win; vice-captain Tiny Morris faced the first ball called was a no ball and a bye was scampered to put Phil Daniels on strike. With 2 needed off 2 balls Phil made contact and ran the first quickly only to be run out coming back for the second and the scores were tied. Paul Littlefield strode to the crease to make his Sharks debut having been drafted in at the very last minute and calmly cut the final ball through backward point for 2.
In the other half of the draw Northamptonshire secured a straight forward win over Yorkshire, after the Vikings ended their overs on 185/4 thanks largely to 96 from Bashaarat Mohammed the Steelbacks run chase only took 16 overs at the cost of two wickets, Bilal Akhtar & Hassan Ali both scoring fifties. Postponements on the 7th June and the 19th July saw Metro travel to Somerset on Saturday 2nd August. This game was rather more one sided as Metro fell one short of 400 runs having chosen to bat as Matt Dean retired on 134 and opening partner Nick Ebbeck scored 135. Somerset had toiled hard in the field chasing the ball to all parts of the ground on a warm day. Then they had to face Mo Ghalib who put in a stunning four overs to take all eight wickets needed to end the innings in just four overs while conceding one run, a no ball. He took a hat trick in his first over and another three in his last either side of that no ball. He got two bowled, a hit wicket and was assisted with catches from Rob Mackenzie and a brace from both Sam Hoskin and Thomas Froud. Unfortunately the total of 14 is less than the previous lowest blind cricket total of 16 all out by Barclays Bank’s team in the Primary Club Cup in the mid 80’s.
Will the one semi-final still to play on the 16th when Metro face Northamptonshire Steelbacks in London produce an equally dramatic match? Whatever level of excitement that game generates the winners will play Sussex Sharks on 6th September at The 1st Central County Ground in Hove.