Shropshire fire back with the ball against Cornwall
Shropshire's bowlers rolled up their sleeves and made amends for a disappointing batting display on the first day of their Championship clash with Cornwall at Shrewsbury.
Skipper Richard Oliver, Ben Sanderson and Dan Bowen enjoyed three-wicket hauls as they had the Minor Counties title holders limping to 160 all out in reply to the home county's 218.
Earlier in-form Bridgnorth batsman James Ralph and Whitchurch's Omar Ali came to the rescue after Shropshire's decision to bat backfired at London Road.
Kelvin Snell trapped Oliver in front lbw and sent Chris Murtagh and Rob Foster back to the pavilion cheaply.
Steve Leach also failed to get going in front of his home crowd and was trapped lbw by Chris Roberts.
But Ralph, who blasted 161 for his club in Birmingham League action on Saturday, was in no mood to get penned in.
The No.5 completed a brisk 41 in 42 balls and he and Ali took the score on from a precarious 70-4 to 120-5.
An even more productive partnership of 67 between Ali and Jono Whitney (31) then prospered to keep the momentum going.
Ali ran up his half century before left-arm spinner Shakil Ahmed, who finished with figures of 4-50, had him caught behind.
And with tailenders Sanderson and Dan Bowen offering some useful late runs the tally crept up over 200, although it looked far from convincing on a decent batting track.
But Oliver's side responded with some good bowling, which saw Bowen remove openers Matthew Robins and Scott Harvey.
Sanderson's pace then sent wicketkeeper Taylor Williams' stumps flying for a duck and Cornwall were in trouble at 37-3.
Oliver turned over his medium-pacers to good effect and former Gloucestershire youngster Christian Purchase lasted one delivery with Ralph taking the catch off his captain.
Shropshire's grip tightened with Oliver and Sanderson grabbing two more wickets apiece.
Only Tom Hughes (36) and Alex Smeeth (32) managed to stay around long enough to frustrate home ambitions.
Bowen brought the visitors' innings to a close when he ended Smeeth's resistance to bag his third wicket.
Then Shropshire stretched their lead to 79 before close of play although skipper Oliver's swift dismissal after facing just seven balls wasn't in the script.
