Ambitious plans are being considered which could see Shropshire playing a role in the build-up to the Twenty20 World Cup next year.

Officials from Shropshire County Cricket Club – buoyed by the success of the ResourceBank Twenty20 Cup – are starting to talk about plans to invite a competing nation to play a warm-up match in the county.

Watch our video here 

The ResourceBank competition, which proved a big hit yet again when this year’s event was staged at Wrekin College yesterday, has given them confidence that they could pull it off.

Cricket fans flocked to Wrekin College to see the Lashings side packed with stars such as South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs and Dinesh Mongia of India win the final with a seven-wicket victory over Shropshire.

The four-team tournament – Staffordshire and Cheshire were eliminated in the earlier semi-finals – has become the county club’s biggest source of funds, but co-organiser Toby Shaw insists they cannot rest on their laurels.

“You can’t just be complacent about things and you’ve got to be looking at innovative ideas,” he declared.

“Next year the Twenty20 World Cup is in the UK and it’s a great ambition of ours to be involved in that in some way.

“One of the things we are looking at is having a warm-up game against one of the sides involved, and I’m sure that would be a big draw.”

Shaw is proud of the success of the Twenty20 Cup and believes it has helped the county to make its name.

“Shropshire is now very much on the map in cricketing circles and that’s why so many counties are keen to be involved in this competition,” he said.

“We’re going to sit down when it’s all settled and decide the way forward.

“We seem to have created something which is extremely popular in the county and has become very much the event of the year.

“We had 820 people in the hospitality marquee and everyone had an excellent day, despite the wet weather.

“It was lovely to see all the kids here, too. It shows the interest in cricket and the Twenty20 format is there, and the cricketers in that Lashings team still command hero worship.”