Season Ends In Defeat at Eastnor CC V Berkshire

26 Aug 2026   |   By Richard Prime

HEREFORDSHIRE wound up their disappointing NCCA Western Division 1 season on a further unhappy note when they went down to an eight-wicket defeat against Berkshire at Eastnor in just two days.

Once again, it was Herefordshire’s batting which let them down as, after winning the toss and choosing to bat on the first morning, they lost five wickets for just 46 runs.

This was the third time in four championship matches that the county has been five-down before reaching 50 in their first innings and, as on the previous two occasions, this was too big a mountain to climb to gain a positive result.

With probably their strongest side of the campaign on display, hopes had been high of a decent score but it took a battling unbeaten 60 from skipper Luke Tulacz to guide Herefordshire to some form of respectability.

Only Joel Cox (28) and James Rudge (13) joined Tulacz in passing double figures as Herefordshire were dismissed for just 138.

In response, Berkshire opener James Isbell passed Herefordshire’s total on his own as he compiled an excellent 151.

Although Herefordshire’s bowlers generally kept the pressure on, with Roshan Venkataraman (4-84), Theo Barker (2-42), Joel Cox (2-58) and Rudge (2-72) sharing the wickets, the visitors were able to establish a first-innings advantage of 189.

Herefordshire’s second innings was soon in trouble as Andy Rishton (5-60) clean bowled Ben Chapman-Lilley, Joel Cox and George Rhodes in quick succession.

Colwall’s teenage opener Henry Hardinges again showed his immense promise with 65 as, with support from Ollie Cox (31), he staged something of a recovery.

But after both were dismissed either side of the lunch interval, it was again left to Tulacz (65) to shore up the innings.

There was good late support from George Hallam (31) but Herefordshire’s dismissal for 234 left Berkshire just 46 to get for victory and although Rudge (1-20) and Joel Cox (1-29) picked up a wicket apiece, they eased to victory in just over seven overs.

Elsewhere, there was also a two-day win for Devon, over Wiltshire, which means that the south-west county retains the Division 1 title.

CAPTION: Luke Tulacz acknowledges the applause for his first-innings half-century (photo: Joey Philp).