Richard Oliver felt Shropshire record breaking

Oliver had a huge hand in the four-wicket win at home to Lincolnshire in the MCCA Trophy first round yesterday, which took place at Shrewsbury.

The skipper put together an outstanding 194 in response to 252-7. He opened the batting with Joe Clarke joining him for the second wicket, chipping in with an unbeaten 78.

Shropshire reached 256-6 and it's believed to be the biggest stand in a one-off game. It resonated with Oliver, as he was batting 16 fours and seven sixes into touch.

He said: "I had a feeling when I was out there, I couldn't remember anyone else getting that amount of runs for the county and that was pleasing for me. I would have liked a few more!

"It's certainly nice for me, it's my first ton in a one-day game for the county and it's certainly double my previous highest score. It's about time I came to the table."

Shropshire reached the final of the competition last year, before losing to Berkshire, and have aspirations of a repeat performance.

Oliver left the area in the close season to rejoin Reigate Priory in Surrey, but remains committed to county cricket.

He said: "It was top of the range, I couldn't really have asked for more. It's just about winning, I don't really care however we get there.

"We won with 10 overs to spare and that's pretty convincing, but I have to admit that we weren't at 100 per cent in all departments.

"We sat down after the game and talked about how we can improve, that's the good thing about it. And we back ourselves to chase anything.

"With all due respect to Lincolnshire, they were perhaps not as strong as we have been used to from them. Our toughest games are still to come.

"If we want to win our following games, we are going to have to improve in all areas. They did set us a reasonable total, they had the runs on the board but we didn't feel like the wins were beyond us.

"We want to bat teams out of the game, teams will have to play well to beat us."