Leicestershire and Middlesex reach One-Day Cup final at Trent Bridge

Leicestershire and Middlesex secured places in the One-Day Cup final at Trent Bridge in September after defeating Nottinghamshire and Durham respectively in the semi-finals on Sunday. Both counties had entered the knockout stage having earned byes as group winners.

The competition provided opportunities for younger players to make an impact, with Leicestershire fielding teenagers and recent recruits in key roles and Middlesex relying on homegrown talent in their semi-final. Nottinghamshire travelled to Grace Road aiming to secure a place at Trent Bridge in September’s final but were undone by Leicestershire bowling and batting. Earlier in the knockout phase Durham produced a strong performance at Old Trafford to advance from the quarter-finals. The tournament has seen a mix of established county pros and emerging players influence results.

At Old Trafford Durham overwhelmed Lancashire after the visitors had posted a large total earlier in the week, when Keaton Jennings and Rocky Flintoff had both scored centuries. David Bedingham and Simon Harmer each made centuries for Durham in the quarter-final and Ollie Robinson added 76 as Durham restricted Lancashire. Only George Balderson bowled his overs at under a run a ball for Lancashire in that match.

Durham’s bowling attack also included Luke Robinson, whose figures read 8-1-22-1, and Shafiqullah Ghafari, who picked up four wickets in the same game. Joe Moores was the only Lancashire batter to pass 50 in that defeat, having recently faced just eight balls in his Hundred sojourn. The combination of those bowling performances and limited support for other Lancashire batters left the Old Trafford crowd disappointed.

In the Yorkshire versus Nottinghamshire quarter-final Yorkshire were 207-4 with more than 11 overs to go and finished on 273/9 after Olly Stone, Dillion Pennington and Farhan Ahmed made inroads with the ball. Nottinghamshire’s reply began poorly as Ben Coad and George Hill removed top-order batters to leave the visitors 1/3. Kyle Verreynne lost George Munsey soon after arriving but then and found a partner in Jack Haynes; Verreynne and Haynes each went on to score centuries and Nottinghamshire returned to form.

At Grace Road Leicestershire posted 303/7 with contributions throughout the top seven and a century from 20-year-old Hamza Shaikh, recently recruited from Warwickshire. Alex Green, an academy product and still a teenager, was introduced third change and took the key wicket of Kyle Verreynne as Nottinghamshire’s chase faltered. Nottinghamshire were all out 24 runs short and can concentrate on retaining the County Championship, starting this week at the Oval.

Middlesex reached the final after Luke Hollman rescued their chase against Durham having earlier struck with the ball, taking Will Rhodes for 80 and removing David Bedingham and Ollie Robinson as Durham were restricted to 254/7. Ben Stokes led Durham’s attack and, the report says, felt he "got the rough end of a decision when batting." Tom Helm contributed a vital 40 before Hollman farmed the strike and Noah Cornwell "did the needful" to complete the successful chase.

The confirmed next step is that Leicestershire and Middlesex will meet in the One-Day Cup final at Trent Bridge in September.