Last-gasp bowls agony: County miss out

The club's away team produced a brilliant display to peg Yorkshire's home advantage in the Crosfield Cup final to a single chalk, with Yorkshire winning 210-209 at Elland Cricket and Bowling Club.

But a couple of heavy individual defeats – including a shock 21-4 loss for star man Callum Wraight – meant they lost 208-211 at home and were edged out 421-417 overall by their Yorkshire opponents.

After such a strong away performance the club would have expected to clinch the title on home turf at Greenfields.

Shropshire selector Peter Bound summed up the despondency when he said: "It's really hard to take. I'm disappointed for the players and the supporters.

"We felt it was going to be our year. The away team did a superb job and did all that you could have asked. If you'd said we'd have two defeats with a four and a six (Derek Wright lost 21-6), I'd have laughed at you.

"The away team must be feeling particularly gutted after giving the best performance of the five away games we've played.

"To win 13 of the 24 games and lose by four shots is difficult to take. But we'll learn from it and hopefully go one better next year."

Shropshire number one Wraight's defeat was particularly surprising as the title swung this way and that during a thrilling afternoon yesterday.

Bound, whose three-year tenure as a selector has now come to an end, added: "No-one expected Callum to score four. He'd go on the green 100 times and not do it again. He's a brilliant player."

The team were playing at Greenfields for the first time since 2009 – but Bound didn't believe it had a bearing.

"It was a slight gamble but the problem is you can only use one green for each round so you run out of options. Yorkshire did very well, all credit to them.

"If we carry on in this vein we'll win it in the near future."