Shropshire Star

Will Parton left out of Shropshire side

Shropshire have left out Shrewsbury skipper Will Parton for this weekend’s Unicorns Championship clash with Wales.

Published

Parton has not been included with the county opting to play an extra seamer instead.

Wellington bowler Jack Twigger returns from injury while Ryan Lockley will take over wicketkeeping duties from Bridgnorth team-mate Simon Gregory.

Three wins out of four this season has Shropshire well placed in second in the Western Division table, 19 points behind leaders Berkshire, with two matches to play for both teams.

The county will have home advantage for both of their remaining three-day matches, with the clash with Wales, which starts at Oswestry on Sunday, followed by hosting Devon at Bridgnorth at the start of next month.

Shropshire have so far enjoyed Championship victories against Cheshire, Herefordshire and Dorset, with the one setback at Finchampstead against table-topping Berkshire, the defending champions, last month.

Skipper Steve Leach said: “It’s quite unusual that we’ve had three away matches in a row, but we’re now looking forward to playing at Oswestry and it’s normally a good pitch there. I seem to often say it, but we are really fortunate how hospitable our clubs are.

“We’re four games into the Championship season now and iIt was important to quickly bounce back from the Berkshire defeat with a good win last week against Dorset, a comprehensive win, so we’ll be looking to do the same against Wales.

“We can’t change the past. We lost to Berkshire and we know we didn’t do ourselves justice in that match, but we now go forward.

“We responded well against Dorset. We’ve got two games left, we’re going to look to win both of them, and we’ll see where that takes us at the end of the season. You never know what can happen. If you win five out of six then I would suggest you’re unlucky not to win the league.”