Shropshire’s hopes of progressing in the NCCA Twenty20 Cup were hit by two defeats against Cumbria in Sunday’s double header at St George’s Cricket Club.
The visitors, inspired by big-hitting opener Freddie Fallows, won the day’s first match by 16 runs, and also came out on top in game two, by eight wickets with four balls to spare, after successfully chasing Shropshire’s 163-7.
Shropshire – looking forward to resuming their impressive NCCA Trophy campaign as the focus now turns to Sunday’s semi-final against Suffolk at Shifnal – have now lost five of their six group matches in the shorter format this year.
It leaves them bottom of Group One ahead of their final T20 group matches at Northumberland later this month.
“Our qualification hopes in this competition are now realistically slim,” said Ed Home, Shropshire’s head of cricket.
“Cumbria had a fantastic start in the first game and Freddie Fallows hit us to all parts. We then did extremely well to restrict them to 158, so that was a real positive, as at one point we were looking at chasing north of 200.
“We set off really well when we batted with Seb Scott and Sahal Malvernkar putting on 84, and from that position, having broken the back of the chase, we just lost our way, losing wickets regularly and didn’t play very smart cricket.
“By the end, the run rate, which at one point was about six an over, had gone up to around 12 an over.
“We batted with far more purpose in the second game and I was pleased with the target we set, but Cumbria again got off to a good start and we were unable to make inroads into their batting.
“It went down to the last over, but they were in control for most of their innings, so no complaints, we were beaten fair and square and good luck to them too.”
Fallows set the tone for what was to be a highly productive day for the Cumbria opener by hitting 76 from 34 balls, including four sixes and 10 fours, as the visitors, having elected to bat, totalled 158-4 in the day’s first game.
An excellent partnership
Fallows put on 97 for the opening wicket with Reece Irving (23), while Cumbria captain Matthew Sempill also made 23, with Shropshire plugging away well with the ball to prevent a bigger run chase.
George McCormick took 2-36 while there was a wicket apiece for Joe Stanley and Dan Lloyd, with spinner Lewis Evans the most economical of the home bowlers with 15 runs coming off his four overs.
Shropshire, in reply, started brightly with Scott, promoted up the batting order to open, and Malvernkar sharing an excellent partnership of 84 from 8.5 overs.
But once Shrewsbury’s Scott headed back to the pavilion for 51 from 31 balls, which included eight fours, Shropshire lost their way as they slipped to 90-4 and 107-7.
Malvernkar (31) and Dan Lloyd (26no) were the other notable contributors as they ended short of their target on 142-8, with Brodie Glendinning (3-23), Nico Watt (2-18) and Sam Sharp (2-36) among the wickets for Cumbria.
Shropshire opted to bat first in the day’s second game and posted 163-7.
Tom Fell top scored with 54 from 43 balls, with seven fours, while Malvernkar (26) and Shrewsbury’s Llyr Thomas (22), making his Shropshire debut as a late replacement for the injured Rahul Kaushal, provided some support, with Paul Hindmarch claiming 3-16 for the visitors.
Cumbria chased well as they progressed to 165-2 with four balls to spare. Fallows again led the way with 61 from 34 balls, including two sixes and eight fours, before Ben Walkden (54no) and skipper Sempill (38no) shared an unbroken third-wicket partnership of 82, with Evans and Lloyd the Shropshire wicket takers.
Home, meanwhile, wished Lloyd well after the Wellington all-rounder made his final appearance of the season for Shropshire before heading to Australia.
“It was Dan’s last game for Shropshire for the time being as he’s flying to Australia for the foreseeable future,” added Home. “He’s got a work visa and he’s going to go out there to live for a period of time and has a job lined up. We wish him well and it’s been great to have him in the team again in recent weeks.
“He batted very well in the first game against Cumbria but wasn’t very well supported. All the best to Dan and he will be missed by us all.”
Pictured: St George’s Cricket Club hosted Shropshire’s two NCCA T20 Cup matches against Cumbria.