Ben Stebbings seeks a quick response from Shrewsbury
Defiant skipper Ben Stebbings is backing Shrewsbury to put their early-season difficulties behind them and come good.
Last weekend’s Birmingham League Premier Division opening-day clash against Barnt Green saw Shrewsbury beaten by six wickets after being bowled out for just 54 – a club record low score.
Stebbings is now looking for the London Roaders to respond positively as they look to get their league campaign up and running at Kidderminster, who also started the season with a defeat last weekend as they were beaten by six wickets at Walsall.
Stebbings said: “It will be a tough one but we’ve got to bounce back and put in a good performance. We need to go there and get 20 points if we can.”
Shrewsbury will be without Worcestershire all-rounder Ed Barnard and Warwickshire prospect George Panayi, who both played last weekend.
Stebbings admits Shrewsbury’s early season difficulties with the bat are not ideal – they were dismissed for 67 at West Bromwich Dartmouth in the Graham Williamson Trophy a week earlier – but he insists he’s not worried and is backing his team to come good.
“It was just some poor application from ourselves,” Stebbings added as Warwickshire man Josh Poysden ended with 5-7 from 4.3 overs.
“He’s a very good bowler, we know that. He’s played for England Lions this winter so he’s a good performer.
“We knew what to expect from him so that’s one of the disappointing things. The amount of experience we have, we didn’t have a clear game plan about playing against him which is a shame really because we should know.”
“There’s no excuse, a couple of poor shots up front. There was not a clear game plan from our batters against some of their bowlers.
“They bowled well but, again, it’s no excuse. We’ve got Ed Barnard stranded on 21 not out. Even the middle, lower order, someone’s got to take it upon themselves to stick with someone like that.
“Even if we had got 80 or 90, it probably would have been a good game.
“We were definitely going to bowl if we won the toss. It might have been a different game, but it’s not an excuse for losing that badly and getting bowled out for 54.”
They took a step in the right direction on Monday when they beat Third Division Milford Hall by 100 runs in the first round of the ECB National Club T20 Cup.
Shrewsbury’s reward is a second-round tie at home to Shifnal.
