A warm and sunny Shifnal greeted Shropshire and Herefordshire for the opening Championship game of the 2008 season. Shropshire were forced to make changes from their 1 day side with Duncan Catterall , Ed Foster and Mark Robinson unavailable. Richard Oliver made his County debut, whilst Adam Shimmons and Martin Davies also came into the side. Anthony Parker was prefered to Matt Tilt behind the stumps.

Visiting skipper Chris Buroughs won the toss and elected to bat, a decision he would have regretted as a mixture of poor shot selection and good bowling reduced them to a 1st innings total of just 134. Only Henry Langford and Richard Hall, who both scored 37 showed any resolution, but both were out to poor shots. Any Gray (4 for 25), a Championship best, and Adam Shimmons (3 for 44) did most of the damage, backed up by Steve Taylor and Jack Shantry. The Shropshire reply got off to a good start, as John Maunders (24) and Jono Whitney (27) put on 48 for the 1st wicket. The introduction of Chris Buroughs altered the course of the innings. In the space of 20 balls, he reduced Shropshire to 59 for 4, in the process taking a hat trick, only the 2nd Herefordshire to do so in the Championship. Jamie Ralph and Atiq Rehman began the recovery, but it was a stand of 86 by Ralph (74) and Anthony Parker (37) which saw Shropshire through to a close of play score of 208 for 8.

On the second morning Shropshire were all out for 232, a lead of 98, with Buroughs taking 5 for 51. Steve Taylor took the early wicket of Ashley Nahorniak, but the visitors showed much more resolution in their 2nd innings. Substantial contributions form Daniel Bassett (35), Langford (60), Richard Hall (37) and Buroughs (40), enabled Herefordshire to score 256, forcing Shropshire to take a 2nd new ball in order to dismiss them. Andy Gray bowled a marathon 34 overs through the very hot day, taking 4 for 93, and posting the best match figures by a Shropshire bowler against Herefordshire. Adam Shimmons also bowled a long impressive spell, but it was Steve Taylor (5 for 42) who finished off the innings. Shropshire were hindered by an injury to Jack Shantry, but Jono Whitney stepped into the breach with an excellent spell.

Set 159 to win, the home side only had 2 overs to negotiate before the close but they lost Maunders, who appeared very unlucky to be given out LBW for the 2nd time in the match, to close on 3 for 1.

The third morning dawned with more of a breeze, but still excellent weather, and Shropshire needed a sound start to calm the nerves. They were given this by Jono Whitney and Atiq Rehman who batted very sensibly for 45 minutes to see off the new ball. The introduction of Chris Buroughs, the destroyer in the 1st innings, appeared to galvanise both batsmen who went on the offensive. They both profited from some difficult chances, but added 135 for the 2nd wicket before Rehman was bowled by David Exall for 55. Richard Oliver, who had suffered a golden duck on debut, joined Whitney, and they saw Shropshire to an impressive victory before lunch. Whitney finished on 94* from just 98 balls.

A win in the first game will give Shropshire great heart for the rest of the campaign. They next visit Cornwall at Truro, and will hope to continue their good form.

Umpires             S Nelson and M Eggleston

Scorers              CLW Barthorpe and J Morris