Captain James Ralph has admitted a “lack of a game plan against the spinners” caused Shropshire to bow out of the MCCA Trophy.

Shropshire’s one-day season came to premature end yesterday when they lost a winner-takes-all final group match at Oxfordshire to determine who progressed to the quarter-finals.

Shropshire were undone by a middle-order batting collapse when spinners Luke Ryan and Paul McMahon took control as Shropshire plummeted from 95-2 to 134-7.

They eventually ended their 50 overs on 211-9 and, while Oxfordshire only passed that target in the final over, they did so comfortably with seven wickets in hand.

And Ralph admitted: “The spinners were the key and we didn’t play them well.

“We just wanted to keep attacking when we should have been happy taking the 20 overs of spin for 50 runs and making sure we didn’t lose wickets so we could push on against the spinners at the end.

“Instead we lost five wickets and it left us with nowhere to go.

“Everyone deserves a pat on the back for sticking at it in the field and forcing them to the final over, but we should have been defending at least 250.”

Shropshire have little time to lick their wounds, however, with their Minor Counties Championship campaign beginning on Sunday when they head to Eastnor to take on Herefordshire in a three-day game.