Sam Ellis and Matt Lamb return as Shropshire hit the road

Shropshire captain Graham Wagg and his team-mates will be hoping for more favourable weather after last weekend’s opening Group Three game against Suffolk at Oswestry was abandoned without a ball bowled owing to rain.

“We’re raring to go,” said Wagg. “It was a shame about the weather last weekend as Oswestry put in such a great effort and the hospitality there was fantastic.

“It would have been nice to have played, but unfortunately it wasn’t the case, so I’m really looking forward to getting out there now on Sunday.

“We start every competition we play looking to get through. We’re looking to really target this 50-over competition before we even start thinking about the three-day competition.”

The top two teams in Shropshire’s One Day Trophy group will progress to the knockout stages, with Shropshire also facing Cheshire at Wem on June 19 ahead of an away match against Norfolk the following weekend.

Shropshire will select from a squad of 12 against Cambridgeshire, with Ellis and Lamb replacing unavailable duo James Shaw and Martin Boyle. Opening bowler Ellis, also capable of contributing valuable runs down the order, returns for the first time since playing in the county’s two opening matches of the season in the NCCA’s T20 competition against Cheshire in April.

The former Whitchurch and Shrewsbury player now plays his club cricket for Formby in the Liverpool & District Cricket Competition. Ellis also played for Leeds/Bradford MCCU earlier this season against both Leicestershire and Yorkshire.

Promising top order batter Lamb, who recently joined Shifnal from Wellington, impressed for Shropshire’s Academy side last season.

He made his first-team debut for the county in the final two T20 group games against Northumberland last month. Wagg said: “Sam and Matt are good additions. We’ve picked our 12, which we’re happy with, and for the final XI we’ll have to see what the wicket’s like.

“I don’t think we’ve played there before, so it will be interesting to have a look at the wicket and the dimensions of the ground.”

Wagg added: “Sam is still a young lad and there’s a lot of high hopes for him. He has impressed me a lot, as have others. We’ve worked technically on a couple of things and it seems to be paying off. It’s nice to see him doing well and it will be good to have him back.

“Bringing the youngsters in like Matt is what it’s all about, to have that mixture of experience and youth, so it will be good to have him back.”

Cambridgeshire, the current Group Three leaders, opened their Trophy campaign by beating Cheshire by 97 runs at Exning Park earlier this month.

Rain meant their match at Norfolk last weekend was abandoned at the halfway stage.

Shropshire, from: Graham Wagg (Wem, captain), Ben Lees (Bridgnorth), Sam Ellis (Formby), Andre Bradford (Swarkestone), Sam Whitney (Bridgnorth), Ryan Lockley (Bridgnorth), Ben Roberts (Bridgnorth), Matty Simmonds (Bridgnorth), Charlie Walker (Bridgnorth), Michael Robinson (Whitchurch), Luke Thornton (Shrewsbury), Matt Lamb (Shifnal).