National Counties T20 exit for Lincolnshire after double defeat

In the first match against Cumbria, Lincolnshire won the toss and elected to field.

Despite an early wicket by Nic Keast, the hosts batted solidly throughout with Harry Singh’s 64 (four fours and three sixes) dominant.

Cumbria captain Michael Slack boosted the run rate as his team reached 148-6 after 20 overs.

For Lincolnshire, Nic Keast’s 3-10 in his four overs was the best return.

With a required run rate of 7.5 per over, Lincolnshire needed a good start. But this failed to materialise as they fell to 23-3.

After 10 overs a further 100 were required for victory from the final 10 overs.

Despite 20s from Tom Keast, Jordan Cook and Qundeel Haider, a final total of 126-8 saw Lincolnshire defeated by 22 runs.

They now had to defeat Herefordshire to stand any chance of progressing to Final Day.

Herefordshire won the toss and elected to field.

Lincolnshire again found runs hard to come by and, despite 36 by Tom Keast and 28 by Nic Keast, they fell well short of what was required, reaching a modest 114-9.

Herefordshire made 65 before losing their first wicket and reached their target for the loss of two wickets with 10 balls to spare, opener Oliver Walker top-scoring with 56.

Cumbria beat Herefordshire to qualify for Finals Day along with other group winners Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Staffordshire.

Lincolnshire’s next match is against Bedfordshire at Woodhall Spa in the National Counties Trophy (50 overs per side) on Sunday, 9th June.