Shropshire's cricketers enjoy excellent start to NCCA Trophy campaign with victory at Herefordshire
Shropshire enjoyed an excellent start to the new season by emerging six-wicket winners against Herefordshire in their opening NCCA Trophy group match.
Three wickets from Cameron Jones helped Shropshire dismiss Herefordshire for 145.
Shropshire then made assured progress towards their victory target, which they reached with almost 19 overs to spare at Eastnor.
The result sets Shropshire up nicely for Sunday’s second group game in the 50-over competition when they will face current NCCA Trophy holders Norfolk at Shrewsbury’s London Road ground.
Shropshire captain Charlie Home said: “We’ve been slightly chasing our tail after losing our first 50-over game in the last couple of seasons, so it’s really nice to start with a win after a good all-round performance from everyone.
“We played at Eastnor last year in our last three-day match, which we sadly lost.
"We lost the toss then on what we thought was an obvious bat-first day, and we found out that it did quite a lot early on.
"Learning from that, it was nice to win the toss this time and get to have a bowl on a pitch that had a bit in it early on and probably got better and better as the day went on."
Herefordshire, invited to bat, lost wickets at regular intervals before being bowled for 145 inside 41 overs.
New signing Jones, the former Worcestershire all-rounder, made an instant impact on his NCCA debut for Shropshire by taking the opening three wickets to fall as he ended with impressive figures of 3-32 from nine overs.
Spinners Lewis Evans (2-19) and Jacques Banton, who bowled 10 tight overs for 2-23, also played leading roles with the ball, while there was a wicket apiece for Ben Roberts and Joe Stanley.
Opener Sinel Gunarathne and wicketkeeper Luke Powell both hit 46 for the hosts.
Shropshire openers George Hargrave and Theo Wylie laid solid foundations to the reply by putting on 70 from just 10.3 overs.
Hargrave was first to head back to the pavilion for 39, followed soon after by Wylie, the Warwickshire and England Under-19 all-rounder, who struck 42 on his return to the Shropshire side.
Wylie’s departure was the first of three wickets to fall in as many overs as Shropshire went from 93-1 to 95-4, with Ryan Kilmister taking 2-37.
But Andre Bradford and skipper Home then combined for an unbroken fifth wicket partnership of 54.
Home hit the winning runs to end unbeaten on 30, with Bradford 25 not out, as Shropshire advanced to 149-4 from the first ball of the 32nd over.
Reflecting on the match, Home said: “Cameron Jones started us off on the front foot by getting a wicket in the first over and three in his first spell.
"His first wicket was the Herefordshire captain Ben Chapman-Lilley, who is a very good player and proven in the Birmingham League, so to get him out so early on set the tone really.
“David Laird pulled out late on Saturday through injury, so to get someone like Theo Wylie in as a replacement was fantastic.
“Those smaller run chases are always difficult, but Theo and George Hargrave went out and put on 70 for the first wicket, both with a strike rate of over 100.
“Although Herefordshire got a couple of quick wickets, it was never really in question after what those two did.”
