Ralph’s men face must win dilemma

Shropshire’s cricketers put their hopes of a Lord’s final firmly on the line tomorrow as they prepare for a win-or-bust MCCA Trophy encounter with Cumberland.

James Ralph’s side have been left to curse the elements in the opening fortnight of their Minor Counties campaign, with the opening wash-out at Oxfordshire followed by defeat in a rain-affected meeting with Cheshire last week.

And that has left Shropshire no room for error in their remaining two round-robin matches.

Shropshire must defeat Cumberland at Shrewsbury tomorrow, and follow that with another victory at Bedfordshire a week later.

Even that may not be enough as Shropshire would then be left relying on results elsewhere to guarantee their place in the last eight.

But, despite the odds being stacked against them, skipper Ralph is refusing to throw in the towel.

“We know we have got to win our last two games and then see what happens elsewhere,” he said.

“It’s been frustrating because we feel we have a talented side but the weather has gone against us and now we find our fate is not totally in our own hands.

“All we can do is try and win our matches and hopefully that will be enough. The weather looks well set for the weekend so hopefully we can get a full game in and a win on the board.”

Shropshire have made two changes to the team which was beaten on run-rate last week, with key all-rounder Steve Taylor returning to the side after work commitments ruled him out of the Cheshire game.

Oswestry’s Mark Robinson makes his first appearance of the season, with Bruce Thomason and Asif Sultan dropping out of the starting X1.

Tomorrow’s game gets under way at 11am, with the other game in the group seeing Cheshire making the trip to Oxfordshire.