Quatt aim to clip Sparrow’s wings
Quatt skipper Craig Jones believes his side will have to nullify the most dangerous all-rounder in the league if they are to down Ludlow.
Jones hailed the ability of fellow skipper Will Sparrow as the fancied sides meet at The Quatt Oval on Saturday in the Henshalls Insurance Shropshire Premier Division.
Ludlow sit third in the standings following a win and winning draw from their opening clashes, with Quatt – last season’s runners-up –seven points further back in fifth.
“It should be a good game, I expect them to be up there at the end and I expect us to be too,” said Jones.
“It’ll be nice to gauge how good we are at this stage against a strong side.
“Straight away you’ve got their captain Will Sparrow, who I would say is the best all-rounder in the league, not including overseas.
“They’ve got a real strength there. Then there’s their overseas Ruel Brathwaite. They have a good young squad that they’ve been building for a while now.”
Quatt, who are keen to build on last week’s win at rock-bottom Albrighton, have to contend without injured batsman Ryan Willetts (shoulder), while Elliot Parker and Dave Street are also unavailable.
And the skipper conceded that his squad isn’t the largest in the Premier Division.
“That could be our Achilles heel this season,” added tJones. “We have a small squad but we’ll have to cope with it.
“We’d be fine if we could put out our strongest XI every week! But we’ve got some players coming through the seconds and we’ll be finalising who will come in.”
Jones and Australian star Ricardo De Nobrega compiled a superb unbeaten 239 third-wicket partnership last time out in the success at Albrighton.
“Albrighton aren’t as strong as they might have been after losing a few players but we batted well,” said Jones.
“We could have won the first game against Worfield but we didn’t get any partnerships going, which was frustrating.”
Visitors Ludlow finished fourth in 2016 and have been competing in the division since the turn of the millennium.
They enjoyed a home victory against Market Drayton last time out following their opening-day draw at Madeley.
And skipper Sparrow is relishing the test that Quatt will pose to his side.
He said: “We’ve made a solid start but can certainly improve in a few areas.
“Saturday will certainly be a test against one of the stronger sides in the league.
“It is always a great game against Quatt and we’re all looking forward to it.”
