Shropshire bowlers are geared up for crunch clash

They take on Merseyside with 12-a-side legs at Hanmer and Carr Mill in St Helens (2pm) knowing that the winners will be hot favourites to finish top of qualifying section 3 and march on to the semi-finals in August.

Both counties won their opening group match last month by 13 shots to sit joint top of the current table, and most pundits think tomorrow is a showdown that’s too close to call.

Shropshire selectors Mick Jones, Keith Walton, new Premier League president Andy Smith and the co-opted Phil King sincerely hope not.

They have made one change from the 24 who defeated South Yorkshire last month by calling up Will Tarrel to play at No.5 at Hanmer.

The Meole Brace man, runner-up to Jack Hewitt in last year’s County Merit final at Nantwich Park Road, makes his county debut in place of Keith Wall.

It’s not the first time Shropshire’s seniors have turned to Hanmer to host a home leg, the Welsh border village club having their primarily affiliation to the Shropshire association

In fact the big, sloping green was used last August for a match against Greater Manchester in the quarter-finals of the British County Cup knockout that replaced the normal county championship after a delayed start to the 2021 season due to the pandemic.

It was there that British No.1 Callum Wraight produced a peerless performance to win 21-3 at No.1 – but a winning margin of 27 was not enough to seal overall success.

Getting a performance from 1 to 12 at home tomorrow crucial – as well as the away squad dealing with all that comes their way in a potentially hostile environment.

The omens are not particularly good as Merseyside beat Shropshire by 11 chalks in the 2019 semi-finals and were clear-cut winners of a group game in 2018.

But there’s a quiet confidence in the Shropshire camp this time and, if the weather stays dry and Hanmer is at its tricky best, it is far from being mission impossible.