Six for Shropshire at the hands of Anthony Parker
Anthony Parker hit a lusty six to ease Shropshire to a convincing victory over Wiltshire in their final MCCA group game.
The hard-hitting Shrewsbury wicket-keeper rounded off a pleasing afternoon in the sunshine at Oswestry by clearing the boundary to finish unbeaten on 44.
Fittingly his partner at the close was Joe Leach, whose consistent bowling had put the lid on the visitors after they had elected to bat first on a good wicket.
The Worcestershire squad man followed up an impressive five-wicket haul with an unbeaten 23 as Shropshire eased to their fourth win out of four to top group two.
In contrast, Wiltshire had been without a win in their previous three outings and they were soon in trouble when Dan Bowen bowled opener Ed Kilbee and Leach had Henry Langford caught behind in consecutive overs.
Leach's medium pace struck twice again before Bowen had Jayden Levitt trapped leg before to leave Wiltshire reeling at 98-5 in the 14th over.
But Neil Clark prospered after being dropped and began to frustrate the Shropshire attack.
The No.6 compiled a methodical innings, but began to run out of partners after Ashur Morrison was caught by Richard Oliver off the spin of Elliot Green.
Oliver's men were sensing an early finish when Wiltshire were hovering uneasily at 170-9 in the 28th over.
But Clark, in only his second county game, dug in and shared in a stubborn last-wicket stand of 75 with teenage debutant Tom Foley.
Clark had breezed to 126 – including 21 boundaries – by the time Foley was trapped by Bilal Shafayat in the 35th over with the pair taking Wiltshire on to a more competitive-looking total of 245.
But Oliver and Ed Foster did not waste any time getting the hosts off to a flying start on the tight Morda Road ground, thrashing 48 off the first six overs.
They put on 130 for the opening wicket before Oliver was bowled by Tahir Alfridi in the 17th over. Foster maintained the momentum with some impressive hits with 12 of his shots flying to the short boundaries.
Eventually he was trapped in front by Foley on 74 having taken the home reply on to 194-3 by the 30th over.
While Rob Foster, Jono Whitney and Tom Cox didn't stay long at the crease, Shropshire's win was never in doubt although a middle-order slump left them at 201-6.
Yet Parker wasn't in any mood to hang about and swung his bat with 30 of his 44 runs going across the rope as Shropshire clinched victory with 10 overs to spare.
Victory left the county men clear of Norfolk with the prospect of a quarter-final tie with the group four runners-up on June 16.
