Cumberland's cricket team will today go for glory as they aim to lift the Unicorns Trophy.
Having beaten Staffordshire 3-0 in a bowl-off at Penrith Cricket Club in their semi-final, the Cumbrians have booked their place in the final, where they will face 2017 victors Berkshire at Wormsley, High Wycombe.
Meetings between Berkshire and Cumberland are rare and this will be the first time they have played each other since the 2011 trophy semi-final at Falkland.
Berkshire captain James Morris expects a tough game against Cumberland who have Carlisle duo Ben Davidson and Michael Slack and Cockermouth’s Alex Grainger and Matthew Sempill in their 13-man squad.
“We know that Cumberland are having a great season. You can’t get to a final and beat some of the sides they have beaten along the way to get to Wormsley without being a talented bunch,” Morris said.
“There are certain sides that we know better than others and play more often than others, but Cumberland are a side that we have played very rarely over the years.
"We have played a lot against Lincolnshire in finals recently, so it will be an exciting challenge to play against new opposition.”
While Cumberland haven’t lifted the Unicorns Trophy since 2012, Berkshire have won five trophies in the last three years and have the chance to add two more in the next three weeks.
They have already retained the Western Division title in the Minor Counties Championship and will face either Staffordshire or Norfolk in the final of the competition at Banbury when they will attempt to become only the second side after Devon to win the competition outright four years running.
Morris said: “It’s been a little while that we haven’t been competing on multiple fronts. But it’s something that we don’t ever want to take for granted.
“We are still very much enjoying riding this crest of a wave and getting to compete in these showpiece events at the end of another busy season.
“It’s a brilliant achievement, it continues to be a brilliant achievement. These days will stop eventually and it will be someone else’s turn to dominate things.
"We are going to carry on enjoying them while they are going on, that’s for sure.”
Berkshire’s success has been based on successfully blending the experience of Morris, his brother Richard and Middlesex slow left-armer Chris Peploe with homegrown youngsters such as Jack Davies and Euan Woods, both recent England Under-19 internationals.
* Cumberland’s 13-man squad: Pratt (captain), Dutton, Slack, Du Toit, Sempill, Grainger, Mowat, Davidson, Bulcock, Howarth (wicket-keeper), Syddall, Grey and Wood.
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