D40s recruitment plea
Cricket Shropshire’s Disability coaches have repeated their appeal for eligible players to come forward and join the county’s D40 squad.
It follows their latest game in the ECB Quest North League in which they took on Lancashire at Wellington Cricket Club.
Coach Graham Furber said: “We lost four key batters just prior to the start of the season and that has left us unable to cope with the strength of our opponents in this league – one of the two strongest in the country.
“I do feel sorry for our younger players from the S9 squad who have been thrown into the action in such a strong competition.
“Individually all have performed well and shown great promise on occasions, but collectively we have struggled to compete all Summer.”
In this game the D40s came up against a side containing Tom Meskell.
Graham added: “He plays for Bootle CC in the Liverpool and District ECB Premier League, and has two league tons to date this summer – some disability cricketers in Shropshire are reluctant to join us because they think this is ‘mickey mouse’ cricket!
“It is far from that as this proves. It is a high-quality competition which can lead to an England call up. This is shown as our own Oli Harrison represented the England and Wales Transplant squad in their recent Ashes against their Australian counterparts.”
The game at Wellington saw Meskell in fine form hitting 221 not out as the visitors amassed 379-4 from their 40 overs, Cally Rigby and Tom Wallace each picking up two wickets.
The Shropshire reply, which was interrupted by a heavy storm, saw them bowled out for 108 with Adam Marshall (25) and Matty Bailey (26) top scoring.
Graham added: “Our thanks as always to our two umpires Wyn Williams and Pete Maltby who control our games so fairly, and to our two scorers Ellen Hassall and Tia Foster.”
If anyone is interested in finding out more about D40 cricket, they can contact Graham via graham.furber@yahoo.com or email info@cricketshropshire.co.uk
