Shropshire rely on Chandler and ex-Oswestry duo to respond

Shropshire Cricket Club line-up. <i>(Image: Stuart Dunn.)</i>
Shropshire Cricket Club line-up. (Image: Stuart Dunn.)
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Shropshire are counting on key contributions from familiar faces as they look to bounce back this weekend.

Opening Wem batter Harry Chandler, as well as ex-Oswestry duo Roman Walker and Ben Roberts, have all featured prominently for the county side, which is hoping to recover from a 73-run defeat to Cumbria in their opening NV Play One Day Trophy fixture at Bridgnorth.

Shropshire will host Cambridgeshire at Shifnal on Sunday before travelling to face Cheshire at Oxton Cricket Club 24 hours later.

Ed Ashlin, Shropshire's first-team coach, said: "It's a good opportunity to come straight back.

"We can hopefully look to get a win on the board on Sunday and then back it up on Monday.

"It's a lot of cricket, but we're really looking forward to it.

"We are happy with the squad that we have and backing them to come back strong and build on the positives that we had on Sunday in the Cumbria game."

Chandler opened the batting in that match, while Walker and Roberts led the bowling attack.

Cumbria posted 319-8, with former Yorkshire Academy player Tom Fraine scoring 119 from 117 balls.

Walker finished with figures of 2-50, Roberts took 2-54, and Theo Wylie claimed 2-53.

In reply, Shropshire were bowled out for 246.

Andre Bradford top-scored with 71, supported by Chandler’s 27 and Tom Fell’s 42.

Mr Ashlin said: "We wanted to obviously win the game, but Cumbria played a good game of 50-over cricket.

"They had a batter in Tom Fraine who played an outstanding knock and got a really good hundred, so credit to him, the way he played.

"He didn't really give us a chance and punished us early on.

"We came back really well because it could have been more runs from the start we had, so there were positives in the field that the bowlers came back well and the fielders supported them with that."

Shropshire’s best stand came between Bradford and wicketkeeper Ben Lees, who put on 72 for the sixth wicket.

Lees finished with 40.

Ethan Hardie-Knight starred with the ball for Cumbria on debut, taking 5-57.

Shropshire were dismissed in the 45th over.

Mr Ashlin said: "We felt at half time that we could chase the target.

"The wicket was playing really nicely, Bridgnorth is a fast-scoring ground, so we felt we were still very much in the game, but we knew we were going to have to bat well.

"I think overall we chased pretty well, but we needed a couple of really big partnerships and someone to go and get a really big score, and we didn't quite have that.

"Andre Bradford played nicely and had a good partnership with Ben Lees and also Tom Fell.

"We chased positively, but everything has to be perfect when you're chasing over 300 and we couldn't quite get over the line from that perspective.

"But credit to Cumbria as they made it difficult for us and they deserved the win on the day."

Shropshire reached the final of last year’s National Counties 50-over competition.

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