CORNWALL have announced their squad for Sunday’s crunch NCCA T20 Group Four double-header with Herefordshire at Eastnor CC (11am and 2pm).

All three of their Kent-based contingent – former country pro Alex Blake, Will MacVicar and Elliot Hooper – are back and available and come into the squad.

Blake will open the batting in place of St Just legend Neil Curnow who stepped in last weekend, while MacVicar provide skipper Paul Smith with a top-class option with both bat and ball.

Helston’s Bryn Evans who took 4-14 in game two during last weekend’s brace of victories against Dorset is again included, as is John Moon who smoked a 38-ball century in game one before adding 52 in the second. The other two missing from last weekend’s squad are opening batsman Chris Gibson and middle-order player Jake Rowe.

Herefordshire have lost all four outings so far and sit five points behind the Duchy who have won two from four as well as a tie and defeat at Wiltshire on matchday one.

It means they will need to win both of Sunday’s outings to have any chance of progressing to the next round.

Reflecting on last weekend, skipper Paul Smith said: “Last Sunday was an incredible day for Cornwall.

“Missing the Kent lads, we went in with a full Cornish team, and I told the boys we’ve got a massive opportunity here with nothing to lose playing against one of the best white-ball teams in the country.

“We said let’s take it to them and show some Cornish pride and spirit. I lost toss and were batting in the first game, so we knew we had to aim high but I don’t think anybody in the ground envisaged what was about to happen.

“What John Moon did was one of the best innings I’ve ever seen in a Cornwall shirt. He just took the attack to them which is what we said we were going to do. We were aiming for 150/160 and if we got more then great, but Moony’s knock was very, very special indeed.

“At halfway we knew we were more than happy with the score we got, and said to make sure Moony’s knock was a winning one and we did that.”

On the Dorset chase in game one, Smith said: “Needing 10 an over is never easy, and losing wickets from the start meant they were never really in it. I thought our plans were a lot better than Dorset’s plans and it was a fantastic all-round performance.

“In the second game they chose to bat and I think because of what Moony did in the first game, they thought they had to go berserk and found themselves 70-odd for eight.

“Again we bowled and fielded brilliantly and they couldn’t adapt to the way we set our plans. Credit to the bowlers for the way they bowled and we backed it up in the field. And although they got up to 123, we’d certainly have taken that.

“We said we wanted to go out there and go for it and try and get it within 17 overs and we comfortably did that. We had a great powerplay and again Moony led the charge. I was so happy for him and it was a great day for the Cornish. It puts us right back in the mix for qualification after getting one point against Wiltshire.

“I was so proud of the boys and we’ll go into Herefordshire on Sunday full of confidence and with a chance of still topping the group.”

Cornwall make the long trip up to Eastnor, which is just to the east of Ledbury, in a good position, a fact not lost on Smith.

He continued: “We welcome back the Kent lads which is always good. On paper we probably have a stronger side but hopefully the boys can perform like we did last weekend.

“It’ll be a tough act to follow but we’re hoping we can go up there and put on a good display again.

“Herefordshire have been struggling a bit, but we’ve played enough of this T20 stuff to know that anyone can beat anyone on any given day.

“We’ll prepare as we normally do for a couple of tough games, but we have one of our strongest squads of the season having put ourselves in a position where we’re in a good position to qualify.

“We’ll be aiming to get at least one win and we know then if we can beat Devon twice then we’ll top the group.”

CORNWALL squad of 12: Paul Smith (capt), Billy Taylor (wkt), Alex Blake, Logan Curnow, Ben Ellis, Bryn Evans, Elliot Hooper, Will MacVicar, John Moon, Tom Orpe, Ryan Tonkin, Ellis Whiteford.