Shrewsbury out to bounce back at the first attempt

Shrewsbury dropped out of Premier Division One last season after a tough campaign and now set their sights on an immediate return to the area’s top league.

They have kept together the nucleus of last campaign’s squad while bringing back Worcestershire all-rounder Joe Leach to the club.

And Evans says the club are still ‘incredibly ambitious’.

“It is an exciting new challenge for everyone at the club,” he said. “It is a bit of an unknown quantity to us this league.

“We have played the likes of Shifnal before in the Premier League, but other than them, we don’t know what to expect.

“We can by no means be underestimating anyone, it is just taking it that one game at a time and making sure London Road is a tough place to come.

“We are still incredibly ambitious as a club, and we are going to do all we can to return to the top league as quickly as possible.”

Shrewsbury have also secured the signing of Australian left- hander Tim Ward as their overseas player for the coming season.

Ward, who plays professionally for Tasmania, played for Shrewsbury in 2017, where he scored over 600 runs.

“We had a visa issue with our overseas, but we have signed Tim Ward,” added Evans. “We will be announcing that this week.

“He will be available for all the red ball games through the middle. He is going to be a staple in our top four.

“We think we have got a decent spin attack, so runs on the board if we look to bat first and be attritional in the field. I think that is our best way of winning games of cricket. Wardy played lots of Sheffield Shield cricket in Australia so he will be a good one around the changing room.”

With Worcestershire and Warwickshire not playing this weekend, Leach could make a second debut, while Ed Barnard may also be available for Shrewsbury as they take on Tamworth.

Elsewhere, Wellington head to Leamington on the opening day of the campaign after their promotion from the Shropshire League at the end of last season.

Daniel Vaughan will captain the side this year after Dan Lloyd stepped aside following their promotion.

They have added Naushad Shafi Shaikh as their overseas player for the season, and Matt Simmonds, who was captain of Bridgnorth last campaign, has made the switch to Wellington.

Shifnal make the trip to Dorridge on the opening day.

They have signed Andre Bradford from Swarkstone in Derby. Bradford had a successful season opening the batting for Shropshire last year in their one-day campaign and adds firepower to Shifnal’s line- up.

Australian Ethan Jamieson will be their overseas player, and he is also a batter.