S9s beaten in rain-affected game
Cricket Shropshire’s S9s slipped to defeat in a rain-affected game against neighbours Staffordshire at Calverhall CC.
On a cold and blustery day, two late cry offs meant Shropshire could only field nine players against a full Staffordshire side.
In the circumstances, it was agreed that the visitors would be invited to bat first. Shropshire then took the field with a team which also included two wheelchair players.
Staffs proceeded to reach 152-3 with excellent knocks from Sarkib Din (39), Ryan Barker (34) and Charlie Pitt (21) but then lost seven wickets for 16 runs to be bowled out for 168 in the final over.
Really intelligent use of his bowling resources by skipper Damon Morris helped produce superb bowling figures from Oli Harrison (3-13), Ewan Woodhouse (3-19) and Evan Pickford (2-21 with both wickets being the result of excellent caught and bowleds).
In reply Shropshire lost two wickets in the first over, both bowled by Callum Holdane.
Coach Graham Furber said: “The rain then set in and resulted in three stoppages and the umpires felt that the game should be abandoned at this point, but we sportingly agreed to continue in an attempt to complete the game.
“Unfortunately, this meant that by Duckworth Lewis rules we needed to reach 96 by the end of a further 10 overs, which was going to be an almost impossible task given the prevailing conditions.
“We duly finished on 54-5 (15) with only Ewan (14) making any significant contribution. Our grateful thanks to Oliver Griffiths and all at Calverhall for their generous hospitality in hosting the game for us.
“Also thanks to our two umpires Wyn Williams and Pete Maltby who handled the game superbly in ultimately difficult conditions.”
The S9s are next in action in a fortnight, when they travel to Darley Abbey CC to play their return game with Derbyshire.
Graham added: “There were some really encouraging performances today, hopefully we can build on them there.”
