Head of cricket Ed Home hailed “a great effort” from Shropshire as Herefordshire completed a four-wicket victory late on the final day to win Western Division Two of the NCCA Championship.
Tom Fell’s fine century in the second innings was a real highlight for Shropshire at Eastnor, with the county then battling right to the end to make it difficult for Herefordshire before the hosts advanced to 135-6 to clinch promotion.
Shropshire closed their three-day campaign in second place in the table, 12 points behind Herefordshire, as the home side sealed an instant return to the top division.
“It was a great effort,” said Home. “We probably put ourselves in a tough position on the first morning of the game, going from 45-0 to 75-7.
“From that situation, to end up going into the last hour of the game and getting Herefordshire six down, was a herculean effort really.”
He added: “We’ll come back harder and stronger next year. If you look back and reflect on the season, we got out of the group stages of the T20 competition, which we didn’t do last year.
“We had two good wins in the NCCA Trophy, including a memorable victory over Staffordshire, and we had two Championship victories this season rather than one last year, so I think the general trend is upwards.”
Trailing by 59 runs at the start of day three, Fell quickly made it centuries in consecutive Championship matches, following up his 117 in the first innings against Wales at Bridgnorth by reaching three figures again.
Shrewsbury opener Peter Clark looked set to join him in the century club before his fine knock came to an end on 94. Clark faced 215 balls, hitting two sixes and 10 fours, as he put on 208 for the second wicket with Fell.
The consistent Fell continued to impress until being the fourth wicket to fall after lunch for an excellent 154, from 234 balls, which included two sixes and 19 fours.
From being 312-3, Shropshire were soon reduced to 332-6. Captain Charlie Home hit a determined 30, but wickets kept falling as Shropshire were eventually bowled out for 369 in the 125th over of their second innings.
James Rudge (4-61), Matt Pardoe (3-59) and Taylor Cornall (2-46) led the way with the ball for the home side.
Struck twice in quick succession
Chasing 132 for victory, Herefordshire started brightly, before seamer Ben Roberts struck twice in quick succession to remove Cornall and Worcestershire’s Henry Cullen.
Skipper Pardoe, having hit a rapid 53 from 34 balls, was trapped lbw by spinner Joe Stanley, and when Roberts (3-36) had Ollie Walker caught behind by Ben Lees, Herefordshire were 78-4.
Stanley (3-65) claimed two more wickets, but Nick Hammond’s unbeaten 35 helped guide the hosts to 135-6 inside 29 overs.
“When you get into that situation, you want to win,” said Ed Home. “But you’ve also got to be honest and recognise over three days did we ever get a situation when we were on top of Herefordshire in the game? The answer to that is probably not and the reason for that was the first morning.
“Congratulations to Herefordshire on gaining promotion. There’s a lot of friendships on both sides. In many ways it was like an old fashioned game of cricket. They played very hard on the pitch, but the players shared a drink and conversations after the end of play on all three days.”
Asked to bat on the opening morning, Shropshire slipped from 45-0 to 74-7, but then Simon Gregory, making his first appearance for the county for three years, struck an important 60 as Shropshire rallied to finally be dismissed178.
Gregory, batting at six, put on 55 for the eighth wicket with Stanley (24) and then 48 for the ninth wicket with Sam Ellis.
Opener George Hargrave had earlier made 42, with Walker (3-39), Chris Steele (3-65) and Cornall (2-4) inflicting much of the damage for the hosts.
Herefordshire, in reply, closed day one on 215-5. Ben Chapman-Lilley (51) and Pardoe (45) shared an opening partnership of 97, before Cullen (51) and Cornall (26) also kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Leading by 53 runs the start of the second day, Herefordshire stretched their advantage to 238 runs after posing 416-6 in their first innings.
Rudge went for 23, but Luke Tulacz (88no) and Hammond (87no) put on an unbroken 157 for the seventh wicket, with Roberts taking 2-46 for Shropshire.
With work to do at the halfway stage, Shropshire applied themselves impressively to the task in hand and by the end of day two had moved the score along to 179-1, with Fell unbeaten on 85 and Clark 73 not out, with the duo adding more runs on the final day to take their partnership to more than 200.
Home added: “A special mention for Peter Clark as that was his first major innings for Shropshire and I’m sure he will only kick on from there. Tom Fell, as he was last year, has been the cornerstone of everything and he played very well once again.”
Pictured: The picturesque Eastnor Cricket Club staged Shropshire’s final NCCA Championship match of the season against Herefordshire.