Lloyd makes Shropshire return for Cumbria clash

Wellington all-rounder Lloyd replaces unavailable Worfield seamer Ravan Chahal as the only change to the 12 selected for last weekend’s trip to Staffordshire.

Sunday’s opening match starts at 11am, with the second game scheduled to start around 2.30pm, with free admission for spectators. 

Shropshire captain Charlie Home said: "Dan Lloyd was unavailable last Sunday but now comes back in.

“Dan’s a year older than me so we have played a lot of cricket together, while we also went to Shrewsbury School together for a couple of years.

“He’s a quality cricketer. You can see that with how well he’s done for Wellington in the Shropshire County League this season as he’s got runs, wickets most weekends.

“He bowled fantastically well against Northumberland in the quarter-finals of the NCCA Trophy and took a couple of wickets, so he played an important role in helping us reach the semi-finals of that competition.”

Shropshire have won one and lost three of their four T20 Cup games this season, with their group fixtures in the shorter format now at the halfway stage.

They are currently placed fourth of the five teams in Group One and will follow Sunday's two matches against Cumbria with a long trip to Northumberland at the end of the month to complete their group fixtures.

Home was encouraged by how a much-changed Shropshire team performed against Staffordshire at Burslem last weekend.

Having held their nerve to impressively win an exciting opening game by one run, Shropshire lost the day’s second match, reduced to just five overs per side following a lengthy rain delay, by seven wickets off the penultimate ball.

“It was one of the most enjoyable wins I’ve had captaining the side,” said Home. "There were a number of changes to the team, mainly due to the success we are having in the 50-over competition, with players being unavailable because of extra commitments in the NCCA Trophy.

“We had a relatively inexperienced side, a young side, so to beat a team like Staffordshire who had everyone available was fantastic. Some of the lads were put under pressure and reacted very well.

“The second game was sadly a five-over affair and anyone can win that, but we took them to the penultimate ball and it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

“It was nice to see the new faces perform well and give a good account of themselves. I think they all enjoyed coming into the group and the way we go about things.” 

Home and his team are now looking forward to heading to St George’s this weekend.

"We played a three-day game there last year against Dorset, which I sadly missed, and it was rain-affected,” added the skipper.

“We had a 50-over game against Cambridgeshire at St George’s the year before when we were very well looked after and played really well, so we are looking forward to going back on Sunday.

“We have a similar squad to last weekend and we know that facing Cumbria will be a good test for a younger group of players.

“But after last week, I don’t see why we can’t look to get a couple of positive results.”

Shropshire, from: Sahal Malvernkar (Milford Hall), Rahul Kaushal (Shifnal), Tom Fell (Wolverhampton), Charlie Home (Shifnal, captain), Dan Lloyd (Wellington), Seb Scott (Shrewsbury), Joe Stanley (Wolverhampton), Ben Lees (Shifnal), Lewis Evans (Shrewsbury), Luke Thornton (Allscott Heath), George McCormick (Chester Boughton Hall), Will Jenkins (Shrewsbury).