After the disappointment of loosing their first group match against Oxfordshire to rain, Shropshire were hoping for better things for the game with local rivals Cheshire at Neston. Shropshire made one change to the squad, with Bruce Thommason replacing the unavailable Steve Taylor. New County professional John Maunders made his debut, whilst Ed Bayliss made his 1 Day debut.
Early morning rain was not encouraging but, remarkably, play was able to start on time. James Ralph won an important toss, and asked Cheshire to bat on a green wicket. Cheshire lost the early wickets of Warren Goodwin, Ben Spendlove and James Duffy to some penatrative bowling from Duncan Catterall and Jack Shantry before Danny Leech and Nathan Dumelow began to repair the damage. A break for rain, and an early lunch followed, after which Ed Bayliss snapped up both batsmen with the help of some excellent work behind the stumps from Ed Foster, and when skipper Andrew Hall was bowled by Andy Gray, Cheshire were in trouble at 100 for 6. However a partnership of 103 for the 7th wicket between Jason Whittaker (52) and Matt Dawson (59*) rescued them, as they reached 219 for 7 in their 50 overs. Duncan Catterall (2 for 22) was the pick of the bowlers with good support from Shantry, Gray and Bayliss. However, the old malaise of too may extras, showed itself again, as Shropshire conceded 20 wides and 2 no balls, giving Cheshire 4 additional overs.
The Shropshire reply started under darkening skies, with John Maunders and Ed Foster finding batting difficult against the strong pace attack of Guy Emmett, Adam Sydall, and particularly Jason Whittaker. However, they added 30 before Foster was caught behind. Jono Whitney announced himself with a sumptuous straight drive first ball, but was soon dismissed. Maunders played some excellent shots, hitting 6 boundaries before he was bowled by Whittaker for 32. With the sky now very dark, and rain threatening Atiq Rehman and Duncan Catterall found batting very difficult when, with Shropshire on 49 for 3, the rain finally ended any hopes of continuing. With only 10 overs batting per side constituting a match, Shropshire were well short of their target, leaving Cheshire as winners on a faster scoring rate.
This was a big disappointment, leaving Cheshire in the driving seat with 2 wins, but the abandonement of the Cumberland v Bedfordshire match leaves Shropshire needing to win their final 2 group matches to qualify for the quarter finals.
Umpires S Nelson and H Burgess
Scorers J Law and CLW Barthorpe
