An exciting match ended in victory for the Shropshire County Cricket League representative team over Shropshire Academy by three runs at Whitchurch’s Heath Road ground.
Asked to bat first in Sunday’s 50-over friendly, the League side’s total of 255-7 proved to be just enough as Shropshire Academy were bowled out for 252 off the penultimate ball of the match.
Shropshire Academy are quickly back in action as they look forward to another 50-over match against Worcester University’s 1st XI at Ombersley Cricket Club on Wednesday (11am).
Whitchurch opener Michael Robinson, playing at his home club ground, top scored for the League XI with 80, which came off 109 balls and included a six and nine fours.
Kieran Gill, the overseas player from New Zealand for Shrewsbury’s 2nd XI in the Shropshire County League, then struck an unbeaten 74 from 61 deliveries, with two sixes and 10 boundaries, as he put on 80 for the seventh wicket with Alex Johnson (32).
Jack Shields took 2-82 for Shropshire Academy while George McCormick (1-17) and Gursimrat Singh (1-27) both produced impressive 10-over spells.
An opening stand of 131 between Harry Chandler and Chad Brandrick gave solid foundations to the Shropshire Academy reply.
The partnership was eventually ended at the start of the 24th over when Shifnal’s Brandrick was bowled by spinner Ralph Davies for 34.
Chandler soon followed him back to the pavilion, also falling to his Wem team mate Davies (2-39), after making an excellent 94 from 86 balls, which featured three sixes and 12 fours.
After slipping to 160-5, Wellington wicketkeeper Morgan Ward and Ben Roberts batted the Academy into a useful position by putting on 68 for the sixth wicket.
Ward eventually went for 54 from 51 balls, with six fours, one of four wickets claimed by Sentinel spinner Johnson (4-46) following his earlier contribution with the bat.
With wickets continuing to fall as Roberts kept the scoreboard ticking over, it came down to the Academy needing 13 to win off the final over.
Run out off the penultimate ball of the match
Roberts hit the first ball for six but he was run out off the penultimate ball of the match while trying to retain the strike, having made 45, as the Academy pulled up just short of their target.
Wem’s Alex Ollerenshaw also played his part with the ball for the League side by taking 2-49.
Reflecting on the match, Shropshire Academy coach Ryan Lockley said: “I think we were fairly confident at halfway having restricted them to 255. As a group, we thought they had got away in the last 10 overs and probably got another 25, 35 more runs than we thought they should have.
“We didn’t quite hit our lengths and bowl to the appropriate fields that we wanted set, so it didn’t quite go to plan in the last 10 overs.
“But that’s taking nothing away from how well they batted as Kieran Gill and Alex Johnson batted particularly well in the last few overs to put them in a strong position at halfway.
“I still thought it was very much a gettable total, but just over 250 was a very competitive score after it had been set up nicely by Mike Robinson, the captain, who had earlier held the innings together.
“We got off to a fantastic start in the second half with a first wicket partnership of 131 between Chad Brandrick and Harry Chandler. That was an excellent platform and we were really positive in the powerplay which set the game up well.
“We then got stuck after the first wicket fell, kept losing regular wickets and started to put ourselves under pressure because of so much dot ball pressure.
“We ended up playing high risk cricket, trying to find the release, rather than still trying to work it round. We lost sight of what we had been doing really well.
“Morgan Ward and Ben Roberts then both played well, but it just wasn’t quite enough and unfortunately we ended just short.
“There were certain phases of the game where we were really good for long spells, but there were little phases of the game that arguably just put us on the wrong side of the result.
“It was a fantastic game for the neutral and it was great to see so many young lads playing, a fair amount of under-19s, so that can only be good for the future of Shropshire cricket.
“It was an exciting game and we go again now on Wednesday against Worcester University.”
This is the Shropshire Academy side selected for the match against Worcester University: Connor Glendinning (Cound), Kieran Gill (Shrewsbury), Harry Parton (Shifnal), Sohaym Maddekar (Kidderminster), Morgan Ward (Wellington), Luke Thornton (Allscott Heath, captain), Gursimrat Singh (Attock), Harry Turley-Salmons (Lichfield), Griff Davies (Newtown), Jack Shields (Shifnal), Alex Heath (Whitchurch).
Pictured: Wem opener Harry Chandler top scored for Shropshire Academy with 94 as they were narrowly beaten by the Shropshire County Cricket League’s representative side.