Northamptonshire U18s return to The County Ground on Sunday 9th July as they welcome Staffordshire U18 in the third round of the National 50 Over Competition after an impressive 8 wicket win against Lincolnshire U18s.

The U18’s play at the ground for the first time since last year and Academy Director Kevin Innes believes the team will be up for the challenge.

“Everyone’s excited to be playing at The County Ground, it’s a real privilege and hopefully we can put on a show for everyone.

“We need to be on our game, respect our opponents and really give it all we’ve got.” He added.

The U18s recorded a convincing win in the first round of the tournament and started the second round strongly after they won the toss and elected to bowl first at Finedon Dolben Cricket Club.

On a turning pitch, the Young Steelbacks made use of the spin as the three spinners bowled a combined 27 overs and took seven wickets between them.

Lincolnshire were going well at 130-3, but the U18s took their game to another gear in the last 15 overs as they took the next seven wickets for just 18 runs, restricting Lincolnshire to 148 all out.

Northamptonshire went into bat and made no mistake, chasing down the target with ease, reaching the target of 149 in less than 25 overs.

Aadi Sharma top scored with a brilliant 84 off 69 deliveries and was joined by Arush Buchake who hit an unbeaten 40 off 47 balls to guide Northamptonshire through to the 149 run target.

“We recognised the situation of the game and put on a really good performance which was pleasing to see.

“It was the first time so far that we really expressed ourselves with our batting style, we knew what we wanted to do with the bat and we got our reward.” Said Innes

Play begins on Sunday at 11am with free entry to all spectators.