A good all-round performance saw Shropshire Under 15 boys to a comfortable victory in their first outing of the new season against Cheshire.
Skipper Joe Smallman won the toss at Wrekin College and decided to make first use of the track.
A solid opening partnership between Alex Johnson (25) and Thomas Dix (24) was undone when both were dismissed with the score on 70.
Wickets then began to fall at regular intervals, but Dominic Zaza provided some impetus down the order as he hit 30 off 22 balls including six 4s as Shropshire finished their 50 overs on 180-9.
Opening bowlers Ben Parker and Luke Thornton then got to work, reducing Cheshire to 6-3 and 25-4 with Thornton returning figures of 3-21.
Despite some middle order resistance, the Shropshire bowlers kept things tight with Joseph Pattenden claiming 2-19 from his ten overs and Patrick Ward-Clayton 2-11 from five.
Cheshire were eventually dismissed for 117 with seven balls of their innings remaining to give Shropshire victory by 63 runs.
Shropshire’s Women’s XI started their season with defeats against Worcestershire and Leicestershire & Rutland.
In their opening game against the Pears at Quatt, they found the going tough when asked to bat first, eventually being dismissed for 92 with Beth Charnell top scoring with 35.
Despite wickets for Nyah Edwards, Ashleigh Heath and Sammi Short, Worcestershire reached their victory target for the loss of four wickets in the 25th over.
They travelled to Loughborough on Bank Holiday Monday to take on Leicestershire, and after winning the toss and deciding to bowl first, were frustrated by a second wicket partnership of 89 by the hosts.
But after making the breakthrough, they took wickets at regular intervals to dismiss Leicestershire for 165 with Heath, Short and skipper Lara Jones all claiming three victims.
In their reply, Lucy Arnold and Jones both hit 36, but the others failed to get going as Shropshire were restricted to 139-9 from their 50 overs to leave them a frustrating 26 runs short of their target.
Report by: Dave Ballinger
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