Shrewsbury eye return to summit with Ed Barnard
Shrewsbury hope to be able to include Worcestershire star Ed Barnard in their side for their Premier Division home clash against Dorridge, writes Stuart Dunn.
The Pears have a break in fixtures after their County Championship match against Durham finished yesterday.
Shrewsbury skipper Ben Stebbings hopes that will allow Barnard, a regular in the Worcestershire side, to play for his hometown club in the Birmingham League this weekend.
His involvement would be particularly timely given that Shrewsbury are without the unavailable Rob Foster for the clash against ninth-placed Dorridge.
Stebbings said: “Hopefully Ed Barnard will be able to come and play, as a batter at least. It’s looking likely, but we’ll see, you never know.
“It would be a massive bonus to have him involved, so all being well he will be.”
George Panayi, a seamer, just like Barnard, enjoyed the thrill of being called up by Warwickshire to make his County Championship debut against Lancashire at Edgbaston – with the latest round of fixtures using a pink cricket ball.
The former Shrewsbury School pupil, who has played regularly for the London Road club this season, made the most of his chance to shine by taking 3-41 from 14.3 overs in the first innings as Lancashire were dismissed for 273.
Panayi’s first wicket in first-class cricket was opener Haseeb Hameed, caught by skipper Ian Bell, and he wrapped up the innings by removing Tom Bailey and England ace James Anderson with successive deliveries.
Stebbings said: “It’s great for George to be in the Warwickshire first team.”
Shrewsbury were knocked off the top of the Premier Division after last weekend’s losing draw at third-placed Berkswell, with Knowle & Dorridge now five points above them in the table.
Stebbings is urging his team – they had won seven league games in a row before heading to Berkswell – to quickly return to winning ways against a Dorridge side captained by his Herefordshire team-mate David Ball.
He said: “It’s a game we should look to win but Dorridge have got some very dangerous players that can win them games so we won’t take them lightly whatsoever.
“David Ball is a fantastic cricketer and he’s probably one of the better players in the league.
“I’ve played with him quite a lot over the years, so we’ve got to be very wary of them as a side.”
