Shropshire Star

Matt Simmonds shines as wickets tumble

Debutant Matt Simmonds provided the bright spot on another disappointing day for Shropshire’s cricketers in their Unicorns Championship fixture against Wiltshire at Marlborough.

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The Wellington batsman was drafted in as a late replacement for the injured Ross Aucott.

And Simmonds, who captained the Shropshire academy side recently in a Twenty20 tournament at New Road, top scored as the visitors were dismissed for 123 inside 59 overs after winning the toss and battling first in the Western Division clash.

Simmonds was left unbeaten on 27 as more experienced players came and went quickly on a difficult wicket for batting.

Wickets fell at regular intervals with skipper Joe Carrasco going for a duck and the normally prolific Warrick Fynn making just eight.

Opener Jack Edwards went for 17 and Alexei Kervezee 16, while fellow Wellington debutant Dan Lloyd battled hard for his nine.

Sam Ellis (17) stuck around with Simmonds as the pair put on 34 for the seventh wicket, before Jacob Lintott mopped up the tail as he removed debutant Dean Suter for four as well as Tyler Ibbotson and Ben Roberts for ducks.

Shrewsbury’s Ellis struck twice early to reduce Wiltshire to 8-2 in their reply, and it was 10-3 when Simmonds had Uzair Qureshi run out.

However, at stumps the home side had recovered to 140-6 with Jacob Lintott steadying the ship with an unbeaten 45 at the close to give Wiltshire a 17-run lead going into the second day.

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