Harry Parton struck a fine, unbeaten century as Shropshire Academy enjoyed an impressive seven-wicket victory over Worcester University’s 1st XI.
The Shifnal batter ended 127 not out, from just 73 balls, as he led Shropshire to a winning 222-3 at Ombersley Cricket Club on Tuesday.
Shropshire Academy, captained by Luke Thornton, had earlier bowled out Worcester University for 218 as they produced a strong all-round team performance.
Ryan Lockley, coach of the side along with James Wojda, hailed the contribution with the bat of Parton.
He said: “It was a fantastic innings. It was Harry’s first game this season for the Academy and he constructed his innings very well.
“He hit the ball straight for the first 15, 20 balls, which is what I like to see, lining up nice and straight.
“Then because of that they changed their length and he managed to capitalise on anything short and he put the ball to the boundary regularly.
“The intent he went out with to score was great and he constructed his innings beautifully from start to finish at a fantastic strike rate.”
Ben Sutton had earlier held the Worcester University together, after the students had elected to bat, leading a revival from 23-3.
Batting at five, Sutton compiled an unbeaten 104 from 116 balls, which included three sixes and 16 fours.
Strong response
He put on 88 for the seventh wicket with Harry Thomas (40) – who plays his club cricket for Sentinel in the Shropshire County Cricket League’s premier division – with opener Jevan Kher (39) the other notable contributor.
Harry Turley-Salmons claimed 3-26 while Alex Heath (2-30) and Jack Shields (2-34) were also among the wickets for Shropshire Academy.
Then came the strong response with the bat from Shropshire Academy as they reached their target inside 28 overs on a sweltering day.
Batting at three, Parton hit four sixes and 19 boundaries during his excellent innings.
He put on 135 for the third wicket with Sohaym Maddekar (44), while opener Connor Glendinning earlier made 27.
Lockley added: “Having lost the toss on what was a really flat wicket, we would have taken bowling them out for 218 at the start, however having them four down fairly early on we probably allowed them to get 30 or 40 more than they should have.
“Nevertheless, it was a really good batting wicket and Ben Sutton batted fantastically well in holding the innings together to produce a classy hundred.
“We were very confident at half time. We thought that it was probably 100 runs below par – we felt 300 to 320 would have been a good score on there.”
Shropshire Academy’s next fixture is a 50-over match against Cheshire Academy at Bowdon Cricket Club on Wednesday, July 22.
Pictured: Harry Parton next to the scoreboard at Ombersley after hitting an unbeaten 127 to help Shropshire Academy to victory over Worcester University’s 1st XI.