Scott Elstone shines on his Shropshire debut
Scott Elstone wasted little time making an impact on his Shropshire Minor Counties Championship debut.
The former Derbyshire batsman was a late call up to Steve Leach's side, after Joe Carrasco was struck down by illness.
He took centre stage with a classy century to help the Western Division title hopefuls to 330 all out.
David Wainwright offered fine support with a well-crafted 95 while there were useful lower order contributions from Omar Ali (26) and debutant Harry Chandler (23).
Skipper Leach was delighted with his side's opening day efforts as Shropshire claimed maximum batting points for the first time this season.
Leach said: "For us, winning the toss and batting first and scoring 330 puts a lot of pressure on Cheshire and now the ball is in their court.
"Getting maximum batting points was big for us and we're very happy with that.
"We bowled with great control at the end of the day and kept them to two or two-and-a-half per over.
"If we can keep their run-rate down to that and squeeze it then I think that could be a decisive score."
Elstone found himself in the middle in the first over of the day, after Richard Oliver had departed for a duck and soon lost Leach with the score on 27.
But the former Derby man then instigated a rescue act with a fine innings, before falling for 114.
Wainwright continued his fine form this summer as he was last man out for 95, caught on the boundary attempting to being up his century with a six.
He capped a fine day by picking up the wicket of Cheshire opener Calum Rowe, as the hosts ended on 43-1.
Shropshire's title rivals Berkshire and Cornwall are playing each other with Berkshire dominating day one.
They dismissed Cornwall for 92 and had them 7-1 in their second innings after replying with 325-6 declared.
Leach said: "We just want to control our controllables. Berkshire look in a very, very strong position but there is some rain predicted there so anything can happen."
