Shrewsbury U13's won the First Round of the ECB National Club Championship knockout competition this evening, beating Shifnal away at Weston by 40 runs.

Shrewsbury won the toss and elected to bat but a rather rushed start by Shrewsbury resulted in wickets falling unexpectedly quickly until an inspired partnership between George Pook and Finn Colley stabilised the order which was built on by following batsmen to a rather low total of 87 runs.

At the break Shrewsbury had a strong feeling that 87 was just not going to be good enough to contain Shifnal who were definitely looking for a swift victory.

However, Captain Finn had a tactical master plan for the bowling and fielding strategy which was executed with precision by strong teamwork, great communication and a really positive winning attitude.
Superb bowling by Finn Colley, Freddie Cox, Dan Schofield, George Pook, Freddie Newell and Joe Fleet saw wickets fall quickly and supported all the way by an alert field always working hard to keep the pressure on Shifnal.

Two superb catches by Freddie Newell and Dan Schofield assisted in bringing the Shifnal innings to an end in the 15th over with a total of 47 runs.

Shrewsbury demonstrated just how to win a match from a weak position with strong fielding and a determined will to win.

Congratulations, the team are a credit to Shrewsbury Cricket Club.
A sentiment reiterated by the Shifnal coach who sent the following text soon after the match.

"Well Played tonight. We were beaten by the better team which was made palatable by the fact that you have got a decent bunch of lads. Go on and win that cup!"

Many thanks to Dave Newell for assisting with the coaching and Claire for scoring in the increasingly cold evening breeze.

Shrewsbury U13's will now play either Newport or St Georges in the quarter final.