Shropshire’s chances of lifting the Minor Counties Championship western division title rest on them winning their next two games.
That is the view of skipper James Ralph, who will lead his side in the three-day clash with Oxfordshire at Whitchurch’s Heath Road, which starts today.
It is the last home game of the season for Shropshire, who then have games in Wales and Devon to finish the campaign.
But Ralph believes that Devon trip will be academic if they don’t win the two before then and start eating into Cheshire’s 18-point advantage at the top of the table.
“We’ve got to win both of the next two and we need to make up at least eight points on Cheshire,” said Ralph.
“We need them to have a bad result as well, or it won’t be looking too good for us.”
Ralph is looking forward to the Oxfordshire clash, welcoming the chance to return to a Whitchurch ground where they have a good record.
It s also a game they won in dramatic fashion last year, with pace bowler Steve Taylor taking 12 wickets in the match to record the third-best figures of all time by a county bowler.
Taylor is not available this time, however, and Shropshire have also been hit by the late withdrawal of Adam Shimmons because of work commitments. His place goes to Shrewsbury’s Michael Barnard.
For Oxfordshire, the championship represents their last chance of silverware this season, as they were eliminated from the MCCA Trophy by Berkshire at the semi-final stage last weekend – so missing out on the chance of a trip to Lord’s.
“That might work to our advantage,” added Ralph. “It may be they’ll have a bit of a hangover from that.
“We always look forward to going to Whitchurch because they really look after us there. We’ll be ready for it.”
By Chris Hudson
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